R' Yaakov Hopfer bamboozled his way through a "speech on sexual abuse in the community" with a bunch of Shit we have all come too accustomed to hearing. Hopfer resorted to the worst flattery and chicanery possible, and avoided any fastballs from the audience. Why were they clapping for this child molester enabler?? Were they applauding the fact that Hopfer said nothing of substance or value? What did Hopfer say in all? NOTHING? He answered no significant questions and avoided the paramount and pressing issues. In a nutshell, R' Yaakov Hopfer is a wimpy stupid man. He is an enabler of child molesters. He makes a choice to protect the offenders while at the same time vilifying the victims for reporting the abuse. Can't get any more hypocritical than that. And why exactly is Hopfer one of the speakers to begin with? IT'S JUST A GAME FOR THE RABBIS OF BALTIMORE. They are banking on the public to fall for their nonsense, rubbish, and stupidity. EM
Rabbi Yaakov Hopfer - Child Molester Enabler SPEECH WORDBANK
Something that ahhh. We wrote a letter. About a year ago, the Rabbonim, the wonderful mechanchim we have. I'm not sure why, I heard from people, letter doubted our mechanchim, i'm not sure why, people have their stories, nobody denies, I want to say openly, we have kovod, respect, wonderful mechanchim, confidence in you, show appreciateion. Applause.!
Wonderful community, riboinoi shel olam should help, protect our children. blah..blah..blah..
Hopfer speaks about sexual abuse in Baltimore, even though he's been protecting several alleged sex offenders in the community. http://www.theawarenesscenter.org (more)
http://jewishsurvivors.blogspot.com/
Sex Offender Enabler - rabbi Yaakov Hopfer on sexual abuse
Sex offender enabler, rabbi Yaakov Hopfer speaks about child sexual abuse in Baltimore, MD on February 20, 2008. Hopfer is the president of the Baltimore Vaad (Jewish religious court). Hopfer does not believe that one should utilize the secular legal system, instead believes in handling allegations on his own.Below is a copy of the letter the Vaad (Jewish religious court) sent out to the Baltimore Jewish community a year ago. Since then nothing has changed, except that rabbi Moshe Heinemann wrote a letter banning the Baltimore Jewish Times, because they printed an article about a deceased rabbi who had an alleged history of molesting many children (both boys and girls for over a forty year period. The rabbi was Ephraim Shapiro.
Sexual Abuse and The Vaad of Baltimore
At the urging of several friends I attended the event last week on child sexual abuse that was organized by the Vaad of Baltimore (Jewish Religious Court), The Sidran Foundation and the Shofar Coalition -- which has strong ties to Jewish Family Services of Baltimore.
I have to admit that I struggled a great deal with the fact that I did not want to attend. I was sure that Rabbi Yaakov Hopfer and David Mandel would go on and on about not reporting sex crimes to law enforcement, that the rabbis of Baltimore could deal with the cases on their own. I did not want to sit in a room filled with community members listening to their rationalization as to why the Vaad has notoriously ignored those who have been sexually victimized. I also could not bear listing to Rabbi Hopfer's speech considering his take on many cases in the community, especially the case of Rabbi Eliezer Eisgrau, Rabbi Moshe Eisemann and Rabbi Yaakov Menken.
What shocks me the most about the program though, was the fact that it was sponsored by the Sidran Foundation, the Shofar Coalition (Jewish Family Services) and promoted by Phil Jacobs of the Baltimore Jewish Times on his blog.
One would think that a program like this would be informative and helpful. It would teach attendees how to make a hotline report and also encourage people in the community to work with the police when a crime has been committed. Especially a crime committed against our children.
The program was structured such that no direct questions were allowed. Instead attendees were given index cards in which they could write down their questions and Rabbi Dovid Gottlieb chose which ones were asked. I am aware that several people wrote questions regarding the cases of Rabbi Eisgrau, Eisemann and Menken, yet these questions were never posed to the speakers.
Toward the end of the presentation after Dr. Pelcovitz left, David Mandel got up to the podium and stated that sex crimes against children should be reported to the rabbonim. There were over 100 people in the room and no one was saying a thing. I kept hearing people gasping their breath. I finally raised my hand knowing I would not be called on. I could not sit back and be quiet. I had to ask the question "what about reporting allegations and suspicions to child protection services or calling the police". Mr. Mandel looked at me, turned his head and went on talking about using the rabbonim.
I have to ask the question, how can there be a room filled with people and not one person, other than me have the courage to ask that vitally important question? What was it that they were fearing? I know I wasn't the only one wanting Mr. Mandel or Rabbi Hopfer to respond.
It is a noble gesture on the part of Sidran and Project Shield that they are attempting to "educate" a group of people who have a vested interest in protecting their images and assets. The Vaad has no need to make changes in the way they operate until survivors of sex crimes have the courage to start taking these criminals to court both criminally and civilly. Unfortunately, we have learned from the Catholic church that without filing civil suits against those who cover up sex crimes (against both children and adults) nothing will ever change. How many years have to go by before the Baltimore community will face these facts? How many more children will have to be sexually victimized. Each day that goes by we are at risk of having another child live their lives as a rape victim.
.JPG)
65 comments:
Scum like him makes my blood boil!
Young sex-abuse victims need extension of time for suits
By Paula Ruddy
Monday, Feb. 25, 2008
How many victims of sexual abuse in childhood are competent by the age of 24 to know how damaging the abuse has been to their lives? Yet in Minnesota, child victims of sex abusers currently have to file suit in civil court to cover the costs of injuries within six years after they "knew or had reason to know" that the injury was caused by the sexual abuse, according to Minnesota Statutes, Section 541.073 Subd.2(a).
The Minnesota Supreme Court has held that a child can't know or have reason to know that he or she has been injured by sexual abuse until the age of 18. But unless another disability is proven, the court's decision is read to give victims six years after the age of 18 to sue for damages. In most cases, by the age of 24 the person's right to sue is foreclosed. This statute applies not only to suits against an abuser but it also applies in Subd.3(2) to suits against a person who caused the injury by "negligently permitting sexual abuse against the victim to occur." The employer who was negligent in hiring an abuser and placing children in harm's way is protected by this statute, too.
The nature of injuries varies
Research shows that the experience of abuse can be so traumatic that victims repress the memory of it. In many more cases, even though they remember, they are so emotionally disabled by the abuse that they lose control of their lives and thus their ability to make decisions in their own best interests. The injury from sexual abuse in childhood can include failure in school, juvenile delinquency, addiction to alcohol or drugs, attempted suicide, failure to make and keep intimate relationships, failure in jobs, failure in marriage, domestic abuse, a lifelong loss of a sense of self and a need for psychotherapy. Our legal system translates these losses into money, "damages," awarded in civil lawsuits. But unless they had the good fortune to be reached by competent adults, few suffering young people under 24 would foresee these costs and know they should sue the abuser and the employer who gave the abuser access to them.
A bill that could remedy this situation in the 2008 session, HF 1239, sits in the House Public Safety and Civil Justice Committee, buried by the committee chair, Rep. Joe Mullery, DFL-Minneapolis. Rep. Steve Simon, DFL-St Louis Park, chief author of the bill, believes he has the votes to pass the measure if Mullery were to schedule it for a vote in committee.
The Senate bill, SF 1096, authored by Sen. Gary Kubly, DFL-Granite Falls, is in the Senate Judiciary Committee chaired by Sen. Mee Moua, DFL-St. Paul. Sen. Moua scheduled a hearing, but canceled it on Feb. 21. Julie Perrus, policy director of the National Association to Prevent Sex Abuse of Children (NAPSAC), said her organization hopes Moua will reschedule the hearing.
The clock would start differently
The bills provide the same six-year bar, but the clock will not start to run until a "victim fully comprehends the causal connection between the sexual abuse and the injury resulting from the abuse." A jury would determine from medical or psychological testimony when a victim had full comprehension. The bills provide a retroactive right to sue to persons barred by the Minnesota Supreme Court's previous interpretations of the statute. It would apply to all Minnesota children and all individuals and organizations responsible for putting children knowingly in harm's way.
Who wins if the Legislature kills these bills? Employers who negligently hire predators stand to win. The statute requires that there be a finding of negligence on the part of the employer in placing a predator with children under its care. An employer who could avoid that finding with diligent hiring practices but fails to do wins if the statute is not amended.
Who wants to kill the bills? The Minnesota Religious Council is a strong lobby against clarifying the statute. Its members, as of December 2007, include the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the Minnesota Catholic Conference, the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota, the United Methodist Church, the St. Paul Synod of the ELCA, and the Minnesota South District of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. The Minnesota School Boards Association has also lobbied against the bills. All these employers will avoid liability for past negligence if the statute continues to be interpreted as it is now, and they will avoid liability for present negligence if most victims are unable to sue before the age of 24.
Who loses if Moua and Mullery kill the bills? Victims of past sexual abuse in childhood who want to heal and become survivors stand to lose, of course. They will be deprived of resources they need to move from victims to survivors. But the citizens of Minnesota are also at risk. We are in the moral position of not only abandoning the victims of past abuse, but also of neglecting our duty to protect children from future abuse.
The intent of holding employers liable is to prevent future abuse of children by making it too costly for employers to hire known predators. Liability may motivate employers to develop effective procedures for screening and hiring employees. It may motivate their insurers to require deep background checks.
Criminal-record checks are not enough. Yvonne Cournoyer, program director of Stop it Now! Minnesota, one of numerous abuse-prevention organizations in Minnesota, says that in a telephone survey in 2003 and 2007 her organization called 500 randomly selected adults in the seven-county metro area. Of the 500 called, 110 adults reported having been sexually abused as children. Only 32 had told anyone, and only 7 had reported the abuse to law enforcement. Only a fraction of abusers end up with criminal records.
As a matter of public policy, we should provide an incentive to employers to conclude a cost/benefit analysis in favor of rigorously screening employees, including child-care workers, counselors, coaches and clergy. Right now, carelessness in hiring costs an employer nothing if the victim is too emotionally disabled to sue before the age of 24. The odds are in the employers' favor if they slide by with criminal-record checks only. The employers fighting this legislation may believe it is their duty to cut costs, but the state's duty is to provide legal redress to those who were abused as children.
Paula Ruddy is a founding member of the Progressive Catholic Voice, a forum for the exchange of ideas within the Catholic community.
Kentucky State Police are searching for a Bowling Green man accused of more than seventy counts of sex abuse involving a juvenile.
32-year-old Scott Michael Harding is wanted for ten counts of sex abuse, ten counts of rape, ten counts of sodomy, 20 counts of unlawful transaction with a minor, 20 counts of incest and one count of distributing obscene material to minors.
Harding is believed to be driving a 1994 red Dodge Dakota pickup truck with a black push bar mounted on the front.
The Kentucky license plate number is 180-BDZ.
Anyone with information on Harding's whereabouts is asked to call KSP at (270) 782-2010.
How dare this guy attack us. We are respectable cowards, are we not?
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http://theantisemite.blogspot.com/2008/02/fool-for-your-loving-no-more.html
Fool For Your Loving (No More)
I was angered and frustrated to see Harry Maryles1 endorse John McCain for president. What’s the big fuss, you may ask, who cares about an retired, self-aggrandizing busybody pompously “endorsing” this or that candidate? Why even notice him?
There are several reasons. One being the fact that Rabbi Maryles reflects the apathy, ignorance, stupidity, emptiness, but more than anything the burning desire to be “moderate”, “mainstream”, and “reasonable”, prevalent not only in Hollywood, Greenwich Village, but unfortunately in the world of Orthodox Judaism as well. And no, don’t start pointing fingers at only YU and the carbon-conscious RCA: Mishpacha magazine just published an article about the primaries – the word “immigration” wasn’t mentioned even once, and not one interviewee spoke of either Romney or Alan Keyes. What are the Jewish leaders concerned about? The “war” in Iraq, the heilige economy, and most importantly, how much freebies they can squeeze out of each candidate. It seems that Jewish “leadership” still operates by the model of “I am in the West, but my heart is in the East” – and your brains are on Jupiter, your honesty and integrity, it seems, ceased to exist altogether. Only the immediate benefit matters, the jar of peanut butter, one more buck, one more seat at the next Seudas Achashverosh, all coated with false concerns about what’s going on 3000 miles away.
Really now, are you concerned about the war? So please, tell me dear Community Leaders, Rabbonim, Shtadlonim and Askonim, what have you done to end the war sooner, to make our troops safer, to save the Marines falsely accused of murder? Have you protested the appointment of fat bureaucrats as strategists and wartime decision makers? Have you protested politicians and journalists teaming up to falsely accusing and staging Dreyfus trials for Marines? Because when Rabbis were falsely accused of child molestation you were pretty quick to react, right Mr. Shafran2 ?
As for domestic security –
You don't know who you're messing with. Remove my picture and video link now. How dare Vicky Polin and bloggers like you - dis and rat me out for the chara and ass that I am!
Minister Ben-Eliezer admits: Disengagement was "a very big mistake"
By Israel Insider staff November 8, 2007
The disengagement from Gaza "was a mistake" National Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer told Non-Stop Radio (Radio Lelo Hafsaka) Thursday.
"I admit and confess," Ben Eliezer said, "I was with those who strongly supported [former prime minister] Ariel Sharon, and today I say with my head held high: We erred, we made a very big mistake."
So why is his head still held high? Well, he couldn't predict the obvious.
The problem, he said, was that Gaza was not "handed over to responsible hands and anchored in agreements and international guarantees. Here we have a precedent -- a territory we left turns into a base for terror -- period."
As another three rockets fired from the Gaza Strip landed in Israel, one near what was described as a "strategic facility" in southern Ashkelon, Ben Eliezer said there was no escape from the need to act with force in response, regardless of potential harm to civilians. "Israel must respond, what else?"
Ben Eliezer said "Israel continues to say 'I bind myself to ethical obligations' that no other country in the world binds itself to, as opposed to the Palestinians, who glory in death: "There is a contradiction here between two disciplines," he said. "One nation is prepared to commit suicide and sees it as a mitzvah and an honor, and another wants to spare every ounce of blood."
Background:
Rabbi Elba was found guilty and sentenced to a two-year prison
term for publishing a Jewish dissertation, which stated
explicitly that it was dealing with the hypothetical. He spoke of
the Jewish Law vis-=E0-vis the killing of non-Jews. The
dissertation quoted leading Torah authorities and noted scholars.
He was turned down for parole after the General Security Service
(GSS) presented the Court with secret evidence that proved his
danger to the population. This despite the fact the prison
officials and guards testified to his being a model prisoner.
Rabbi Elba's attorney has been unable to take legal action
regarding the denial of parole. All evidence presented has been
given a classified status and he, too, may not review it.
Rabbi Elba is 34-years-old and the father of three children. He
is a resident of Kiryat Arba. (SNS..3/14..5:10pm).
http://lubavitch.com/news/article/2022180/Chabad-Reaches-Jewish-Students-at-Commuter-Colleges.html
Many students at commuter colleges have little time if any at all, for extracurricular clubs. In this spare atmosphere there are no – or few – dorms, frat life consists of twice-weekly club hours. Students are older, already working, and many have families of their own.
But Chabad representatives at campus centers have discovered innovative ways to reach Jewish students at commuter schools, and involve them in Jewish life.
“In a commuter school, you have to realize that every minimal contact you have with people should be planned to have the most impact possible,” said Pessi Stolik, co-director of Chabad at Baruch College.
Just Due Meted Out on Hedge Con
by Christopher Glynn, Reporter February 26, 2008
Any conman worth his salt can beat the rap once. But twice? That takes luck. And luck, along with the client money his hedge fund took, is something Keith Gilabert ran out of.
Gilabert got off in a separate trial last December after a federal court judge called the government-witness testimony against the California man “maybe the worst I have ever seen.”
This time, though, the government really did its homework.
Gilabert got a five-year sentence Monday for running GLT, a scam hedge fund he used to steal over $7 million. In fact, the judge even said he felt inclined to give Gilabert more time. At any rate, Gilabert, 37, will have to pay back $1 million.
That throw-the-book-at-em’ verdict stood in stark contrast to his last go-around with the law—a run-in that saw Gilabert and his mother-in-law let off scot-free for their role in a crooked land sale.
Also made to answer for the GLT scam was UBS stockbroker Justin Paperny, the partner-in-crime who helped Gilabert pull off the ruse. Peperny, 32, got sentenced to a year in prison and has to pay $510,000 to GLT clientele.
The judge characterized the GLT fleecing as a “dastardly fraud.” Gilabert, addressing the court, painted himself as a panicky screw-up done in by that fickle mistress the stock market.
“I was driven to lie because the market turned against me,” he said.
From 2000 to 2005, Gilabert lost most of the money invested with him while stealing the rest. An SEC charge resulted in Gilabert pleading guilty to fraud.
All the while, the FBI was suing Gilabert and his mother-in-law over a shady land sale. That case went out the window when a witness admitted fibbing to the FBI.
In the GLT scam, Gilabert enlisted Paperny to help him conceal the fraud in return for a piece of the action. His kickback must not have been that big though because Paperny half-tried to sell Gilabert down the river, telling UBS that GLT was sketchy and that Gilabert had a criminal record.
Among those robbed in the GLT hoodwink: Rabbi Sam Bronstein, 95, an emigrant from Poland whose family the Nazis killed during World War II.
Gilabert and Paperny conned Bronstein into putting $4 million into the fake hedge fund, telling the rabbi UBS backed the investment.
The furious rabbi denounced Gilabert and Paperny in court.
“Give them the highest penalty,” Bronstein urged the judge.
With the case a slam dunk, the judge was happy to accommodate him.
http://www.hedgefund.net/publicnews/default.aspx?story=8449
A twist on the 'Who's a Jew' question
Stewart Weiss , THE JERUSALEM POST Feb. 24, 2008
You may have seen The New York Times headline ("Imprisoned, Rabbi Sues Over Space for Prayer," February 16), and perhaps, like I did, shook your head in amazement. A hassidic rabbi serving time in a federal penitentiary in New York State has sued the Bureau of Prisons for infringing upon his right to pray. He claims that because there is a toilet in his cell he is unable to pray there, and is demanding that the prison create another space within the facility where he can worship.
The rabbi, Mordechai Samet, is serving a 27-year sentence for financial fraud - including soliciting money for a fake lottery, submitting false death claims to insurance companies, and defrauding banks with counterfeit checks.
This raises the question of what constitutes being "observant" or "religious" or "Orthodox" - for God's sake.
Over the years, world Jewry has debated the issue of "Who is a Jew?" hotly and ad nauseam. But I suggest that "Who is a religious Jew" is no less important a question, for the answer has profound implications for Jewish and Israeli society.
HOW DO we define "religious?"
Is it a function of the clothes we wear, the company we keep, the type of synagogue we pray in, the particular laws we observe? If a person defrauds a yeshiva or bribes a health inspector, if he is a child molester or a spousal abuser - but he covers his head, keeps kosher and davens three times a day - is he still "religious?"
And if a soldier risks his life to defend Israel and the Jewish people - but does not put on tefillin every day or wait six hours between eating meat and milk - is he "irreligious?"
We are a label-obsessed people. The moment we lay eyes on someone, before we get to know them at all, we are already drawing a box around them and sticking on all kinds of isolating labels: Ashkenazi, Sephardi, leftist, rightist, secular, observant or Orthodox.
And not just Orthodox: We subdivide them into haredi, dati, dati-leumi, dosi or hardal. We have neatly judged, packaged and labeled a stranger before we know the first thing about him.
SADLY, THERE are whole political parties that stake their existence on attracting the "religious" or "secular" voter, yet may not have a clue as to what those labels really mean. Shas, for example, claims to be a religious party, with all policies and platforms kosher-supervised by Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. But when Shas official David Yifrach, director of the Histadrut Labor Federation's welfare services division, was suspended recently for alleged sexual harassment of three women in his office, party leaders avoided any expressions of the issue.
And when Meretz, the great champion of secular rights, waged a campaign a few years ago to keep the Ramat Aviv mall open on Shabbat, the vast majority of the area's residents, who are not necessarily Sabbath observant, as well as the workers in the mall's establishments, rejected Meretz's efforts and insisted that they, too, were entitled to a day of rest.
ISRAELI SOCIETY, infused with so much intensely Jewish culture and character, and built upon an ancient homestead that oozes spirituality, adamantly defies black-and-white characterization. And because we are so fiercely individualistic, with such diverse input into our personalities, we cannot be simplistically corralled into one corner or another.
I vividly recall an incident when I first moved to Israel. The mover, whom I assumed was totally secular, asked me for a drink of water.
When I brought it to him, he took the glass in one hand and placed his other hand over his bare head. He then pronounced the blessing before drinking. Seeing that I was astonished, he smiled and said, "I never put anything in my mouth unless I first bless God, who gave it."
I learned early on that, certainly in this country, looks can be deceiving and the still waters of religiosity run deep. We have to give people the benefit of the doubt and learn to focus much more on the actions and emotions of those around us, and much less on the superficial, external trappings of what passes for religion.
Instead of judging others too quickly, we should be more open-minded and less clothes-minded.
The writer is director of the Jewish Outreach Center of Ra'anana. jocmtv@netvision.net.il
Muslims are honorable people too!
http://www.totallyjewish.com/news/national/c-8460/muslims-push-for-jewish-dialogue/
Jewish leaders have welcomed an unprecedented open letter from Muslim communities around the world calling for "positive and constructive action" to improve relations.
If you don't leave us alone then I will have to sign another bogus letter. When I say "us" I'm talking about all the wonderful child molester mechanchim that we have in the Baltimore Jewish community.
Good thing Torah Temima wasn't caught up in a flash flood. I don't think I could swim all the way to Ocean Parkway where I could hang on to the lamppost there. If Yidi Kolko was still around he surely could piggyback me to safety!
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Prominent Cantor Dies In Flash Flood
Source:World
A prominent American Jewish cantor drowned on Monday after being caught up in a flash flood which struck the Ein Gedi nature reserve in the eastern Judean desert.
Israel Police identified the flood victim as David Tauber of New York. He had driven to the area from Jerusalem with his wife, Heather, who was rescued after an extensive helicopter search.
Staff at the Ein Gedi nature reserve said they had seen the pair enter the Nahal David gorge earlier in the day. The area had been hit by torrential rains, which caused the riverbed to flood. Tauber's body was discovered in the water later by search and rescue personnel.
The couple had arrived in Israel as part of a program run by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, for which Heather works as meetings coordinator.
Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents, said: "This is tragic. I don't know if warnings were issued. They drove down there yesterday with another group."
Tauber, who lived in Brooklyn, was a synagogue cantor serving congregations across the greater New York area, and was resident cantor for the past two years at the North Shore Synagogue on Long Island.
Rabbi David Whiman, senior rabbi at North Shore, said in reaction to Tauber's tragic death: "We are in utter shock of hearing this. He was a wonderful, sweet man, who had such a way with kids and music - it's just horrible. He was really a beautiful, deep man. He could sing the most traditional chazanut and at the same time pick up the guitar and lead services, with great modern sense of delight. He had total range."
Tauber held a Masters of Sacred Music and Diploma of Hazzan from the Jewish Theological Seminary.
In September 2005, he was selected by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations to sing "Hatikva" for then-prime minister Ariel Sharon at the Palace Hotel in Manhattan.
Upon hearing Tauber sing, James Tisch, then chairman of the Conference of Presidents said, "Cantor Tauber's rendition of 'Hatikva' was as inspirational as when Israel won the gold in Athens."
Michal Lando contributed to this report.
by Yaakov LAPLIN
The Jerusalem Post
26 February 2008
Jewish groups mull stance on Durban II after Israeli boycott
By Anshel Pfeffer
Jewish organizations are still at odds on how to deal with the Durban II conference after the government decided that Israel would not participate.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni announced on Sunday at the Global Forum for Combating Anti-Semitism in Jerusalem that Israel would not participate in the United Nations Follow-up Conference on Racism, more popularly known as "Durban II." Livni added the caveat: "unless it is proven that the conference will not be used as a platform for further anti-Israel and anti-Semitic activity."
The first Durban conference in 2001 turned into an anti-Israel festival, and governments in the West have been debating over the last few months how to respond to the follow-up conference next year. Last month, Canada became the first country to announce it would not participate. This announcement has been generally praised by most Jewish organizations but has also drawn criticism, both for not going far enough and for leaving the battlefield.
Former minister Natan Sharansky, who founded the Global Forum, said Livni's decision was timely but that it should have been without the caveat. He said that "it's not enough to not take part in the conference itself, there is a whole process of preparation in the year running up to the conference, where Israel is being attacked, and we must make it quite clear that we oppose that also."
A number of community leaders from the Diaspora, participating at the Jewish Agency board of governors meeting this week, voiced concern that Israel, by withdrawing from the conference, was "deserting the battleground and leaving the stage to Israel bashers." These leaders preferred not to go on record and to openly support the government's decision.
Amos Hermon, chairman of the Jewish Agency's task force on anti-Semitism, said, "Jewish communities have requested us to coordinate a joint effort to fight Durban II, and we are making plans to bring thousands of Jews to demonstrate at the conference, wherever it takes place."
Hermon's co-chairman, Prof. Leonard Cole, said that "it's important for Jewish organizations to be there, at least as observers. We shouldn't be leaving this fight."
The president of the Anti-Defamation League, Abraham Foxman, disagreed, saying that "we should learn from what happened at the previous Durban conference. This is not running away, but standing up for our principles. Jewish organizations shouldn't even be there. There are enough ways to fight this, over the Internet and making press conferences in different places around the world."
I am baffled. The store owner should have called me and I would have given him a heter for a modest fee.
--------------------------------
Store manager fined for employing Jewish workers on Shabbat
"When I hire a new employee, I can never tell whether he is Jewish or not," the manager of the Ashdod store 'Melekh HaJungle' Avi Levinstein, told the court during a hearing held in the Beersheva Regional Labor Court. "There is no nationality noted on his I.D. card, and the name doesn't always indicate his religion."
The hearing was part of criminal proceedings instigated by the state against the store for employing Jewish workers during Shabbat and holidays. Levinstein said that when he had hired the employee, "there had been no signs or red lights warning him that the employee is Jewish, who could not be employed for work during Jewish days of rest."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/26/njersey226.xml
I swear I had nothing to do with this cover up. Blame me for YOB child molestation and abuse, but don't you dare try and pin this one on me!
-
News of the alleged findings came as child abuse offences – and claims that they were covered up - were linked to the island's top public school and another Jersey care home.
Maths teacher Andrew Jervis-Dykes was jailed in April 1999 for indecently assaulting six pupils at Victoria College who he plied with alcohol then abused in their beds during Naval Combined Cadet Force yachting trips between 1984 and 1993.
According to an independent report into the case, allegations about Jervis-Dykes surfaced in 1992 then again in 1994. Both times, the school's headmaster Jack Hydes failed to notify the police or investigate further, the report said.
Former chief education officer of Buckinghamshire, Stephen Sharp, who conducted the inquiry, said Mr Hydes instructed his staff not to discuss the allegations.
If The Rochester Police only knew what I did to a kid when I was employed by a Yeshiva there... After i was no longer welcomed there, I packed my bags and now molest children in other cities.
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newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--gymnastics-abuse0226feb26,0,126621.story
Former gymnastics coach gets prison for sexual abuse of teen
February 26, 2008
ROCHESTER, N.Y.
A former gymnastics coach is sentenced to 2-1/3 to seven years in prison for having sex with a 13-year-old student.
Marian Penev, who ran a gymnastics center in East Rochester, pleaded guilty to second-degree rape, second-degree criminal sexual act and endangering the welfare of a child in December 2006. The 42-year-old also pleaded guilty to a federal charge that he used the Internet to entice the girl into having sex with him.
The sentence handed down by a Monroe County judge Tuesday will run at the same time as a 16-year federal sentence Penev received in October 2007.
Penev admitted having sex with the girl from February through December 2005 after a courtship that included sending her sexually explicit e-mails and instant messages.
___
Information from: Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, http://www.democratandchronicle.com
John Doe lawsuits allege sexual abuse by priests years ago
By JOE LAMBE
The Kansas City Star
Two new John Doe lawsuits filed Monday allege that Kansas City priests sexually abused children decades ago.
For the first time, accusations are raised against James Lawbaugh, who left the priesthood 39 years ago. A lawsuit contends he molested a 10-year-old Baptist boy at St. Vincent’s Church at 31st Street and Flora Avenue in 1968.
That boy, now 50, says the abuse happened in a short-lived Catholic program for inner-city youths during and after the riots that followed Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination.
Reached by phone Monday at his Florida home, Lawbaugh denied the allegations.
“Nothing like that happened,” he said.
The other lawsuit alleges that Thomas Reardon sexually abused a boy of age 11 or 12 in either 1981 or 1982 at St. Regis School in Kansas City.
This marks the 19th lawsuit filed against Reardon, who is among the most sued priests in Missouri for such cases, said Rebecca Randles, the attorney who filed both suits Monday.
Reardon has denied all such allegations. He declined to comment Monday. His attorney did not return calls for comment.
The Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph also is a defendant in the lawsuits, which claim negligent supervision of the priests.
Rebecca Summers, a diocesan spokeswoman, noted that Reardon has not worked as a priest since 1989. She declined comment on the lawsuits.
“The ongoing goal of the diocese is simple and clear: We pledge to do everything possible to address past acts of abuse and prevent it in the future,” she said.
Lawbaugh left the priesthood in 1969 to marry. He was a member of the Vincentians, an order of priests and brothers who teach in universities and serve the poor through parish work and social service agencies.
The Kansas City man who sued him agreed to speak with a reporter on the condition his name not be used.
He said he grew up poor, one of 13 children in a black family with too little food and clothing.
In the months during and after the riots, he and his siblings participated in a Catholic program that included free lunches and occasional treats, he said.
Lawbaugh took them horseback riding, swimming and to movies, and oversaw them on the playground, the man said.
The lawsuit alleges that at some point Lawbaugh began abusing the boy sexually, with the abuse lasting about a year.
Lawbaugh behaved as though the abuse were normal, the lawsuit says, and suggested that he was “providing spiritual counseling, comfort, mentoring and advice to plaintiff.”
John Doe says that not long afterward, he started using drugs and alcohol and developed lifelong substance abuse problems that sent him to prison and helped end two marriages.
He said he saw Randles’ name in a newspaper article about priest sex abuse and decided to tell someone for the first time what happened.
Lawbaugh said he does not remember the program the plaintiff describes.
“I never, never abused a child at all,” he said.
After marrying, Lawbaugh had two sons and earned a master’s degree in business, he said. He worked in jobs that involved Boston community action programs, Massachusetts vocational education work and sales before moving to Florida to care for his aging parents, he said.
John Doe is asking other victims to come forward.
Lawbaugh said, “There’s nothing on my conscience to cause me to worry.”
To reach Joe Lambe, call 816-234-4314 or send e-mail to jlambe@kcstar.com.
LOL!
Gedolim should issue another psak din. NO PERSON MAY BUY CHOCOLATE FOR PESACH. There is a chashash of supporting thieves and eating stolen goods.
=================================
100 tons of kosher for Pessah chocolate stolen from Haifa factory
Yaakov Lappin , THE JERUSALEM POST Feb. 26, 2008
A Haifa chocolate factory became the unlikely scene of a midnight heist when robbers broke in and made away with 100 tons of kosher for Pessah chocolate spread.
A spokesman for the chocolate factory said the thieves used trucks to load the chocolate and made a quick getaway.
Haifa Police described the robbery as sophisticated, adding that the thieves had studied the factory in detail before striking.
Top Chef Hung Huynh to Cook Kosher
Posted by Nina Lalli at 2:37 PM, February 19, 2008
Hung Huynh, perhaps our favorite Top Chef contestant ever, and, in case you're living under a rock or something, last season's winner, will be cooking Kosher food for the month of March. Solo, a fancy Kosher spot in the Sony Building on Madison Avenue, has enlisted Hung's services as a guest chef. The full press release is available, after the jump. Jump!
The stature of Limitations must be abolished. Why if someone commits murder there is no time restraint to prosecute, and by a sexual offender there is a time window of minuscule length for the victims to file a report?
Elliot Pasik and others advocates for survivors - would be well within reason to lobby for amendments in legislation that would change this horrible loophole.
More and more states are extending or deleting the SOL. However, it won't happen on its own. please contact your local state officials and urge them to support such a bill. If you care about yiddeshe neshamas - you would call, fax, write, or email the politicians. Please, please, please, DO IT!
==================================
Child abuse victim to sue
Feb 26 2008 by Rhodri Clark, Western Mail
A VICTIM of child abuse at care homes in Wales is seeking compensation after a landmark House of Lords ruling.
Eight years ago a report by the UK’s biggest inquiry into child abuse said young people in North Wales care homes had suffered “appalling mistreatment”.
Some victims were later told they could not sue for compensation because more than six years had elapsed since the offences.
Last month the House of Lords ruled that a rape victim could sue her attacker, National Lottery winner Iorworth Hoare, despite being out of time. Hoare won £7m while on day release from prison and enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle after being released in 2005.
The Law Lords said High Court judges could exercise discretion over time limits where cases involved abuse.
They also gave the go-ahead for four alleged sex-abuse victims to sue despite being out of time.
The ruling could pave the way for many abuse survivors to claim compensation.
Previously they were unable to bring a claim more than six years after the offence or, in cases of child abuse, more than six years after the victim reached 18.
Steve Messham, who says he was physically and sexually abused at three homes in Wrexham and one in Neath while in local authority care, was one of 650 witnesses at the four-year North Wales abuse inquiry.
When he tried to sue afterwards, he was told he was too late. He had left care in December 1980, two days before his 18th birthday.
Now he plans to appeal against that ruling and sue authorities, but says he has to represent himself in his Lords appeal.
“The way the legal aid system has been changed, I can’t get legal aid. The lawyers want too much money. I’ve got to do it myself or find a law firm that will do it pro bono,” said Mr Messham, 45, of Flintshire.
He said the Lords had put right a flaw in the legal system, which had presumed young people knew they could sue abusers.
“I want justice. Things were reported in 1977, 78 and 79 but victims weren’t given any advice. The police admitted interviewing me three times at Bryn Estyn (children’s home in Wrexham). Why wasn’t I given the right advice?”
Despite the time limit, some victims had won compensation, £20,000 to £100,000. Some had settled out of court for £3,000 after being told their cases would fail because of the time limit.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/26/AR2008022603715.html
Obama, Clinton Debate Tactics
Health Care Also A Focus in Ohio
By Anne E. Kornblut
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
CLEVELAND, Feb. 26 -- Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama traded accusations over campaign tactics and engaged in a detailed dissection of their rival health-care plans in the opening moments of a critical debate here Tuesday night, their last meeting before key primary contests in Ohio and Texas next week.
Clinton used the opening moments of the debate at Cleveland State University to delve into health care, repeating her assertion that Obama's plan would leave 15 million people uncovered. She interrupted Obama and the debate moderators repeatedly to press her points and complained briefly that she had been repeatedly subjected to the toughest questioning in this and previous debates.
Though attention was expected to focus on Clinton as she waged a battle to keep her campaign alive, Obama did not shy away from pushing back -- saying that she had been misrepresenting his health-care plan throughout the race in mailings and ads that he said were "simply not accurate." Obama said that he and Clinton both shared the goal of achieving universal health coverage, an assertion Clinton did not accept. The meeting, aired on NBC affiliates across Ohio and nationally on MSNBC, was the 20th Democratic debate in the past 10 months, and the second in which Clinton and Obama went head to head.
With just a week left before the potentially decisive slate of contests on March 4, Clinton is also waging her final offensive against Obama on the campaign trail, trying to undercut her rival's advantage in delegates, fundraising and endorsements.
On Tuesday, Sen. Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut became the latest high-profile Democrat to endorse Obama, hinting that Clinton should exit the race in the days ahead as party leaders on Capitol Hill and elsewhere were tiptoeing around the same question.
"This is a moment of unity in our country, a time when we need to come together as the Democratic Party and get behind a candidacy that expresses the hopes, aspirations and ambitions of millions and millions of Americans," Dodd said, standing beside Obama at an event in Cleveland. Dodd added: "I don't want a campaign that's only divisive. But there is a danger of it becoming that." He later denied that he was urging Clinton to drop out but added a warning against either candidate engaging in harsh negative attacks in Texas and Ohio during what could conceivably be the final week of their battle.
Clinton, her campaign rife with frustration and finger-pointing, must win both states in order to stay in the race without any outside pressure. She badly needs a boost after seeing Obama prevail in 11 consecutive contests. The latest total compiled by the Associated Press showed Obama leading Clinton in overall delegates, 1,372 to 1,274, totals that include both pledged delegates and superdelegates. A total of 370 delegates pledged are at stake next Tuesday.
The debate at Cleveland State University was the last before contests in Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont next Tuesday -- and may turn out to have been the last time Clinton and Obama will square off at all. Recent polls suggest that Clinton is clinging to a lead in Ohio, which will award 154 pledged delegates to the Democratic convention and has endured high unemployment in recent years as manufacturing jobs have left the country and factories have shuttered. The political landscape there should favor Clinton, whose husband, former president Bill Clinton, oversaw an economic boom and who has made the economy a central part of her campaign agenda.
After the debate Tuesday night, Clinton was slated to travel to two eastern Ohio towns to discuss the economy, starting with an economic roundtable in Zanesville on Wednesday morning. She held rallies in Toledo, visited a General Motors plant in Youngstown and talked about economic challenges in Columbus over the past week. Still, Clinton's challenges in keeping working-class voters in her column are significant, particularly given that major labor unions -- the Teamsters, the Service Employees International Union, and the United Food and Commercial Workers -- have endorsed Obama.
Her campaign pushed back aggressively against accusations by the Obama campaign that the free-trade policies her husband promoted pit her against workers. Obama has zeroed in on two issues in particular in recent weeks: her proposal to mandate health coverage and her record on the North American Free Trade Agreement, both targets of a tough direct-mail campaign to Ohio voters. Clinton has decried the fliers as unfair and sought to portray Obama as a typical politician willing to do anything, including distort his opponent's views, to win.
While Obama has defended the fliers, Clinton has sent out a mailer in Ohio arguing that she has a "consistent record" on jobs and charging that "American workers can't afford Barack Obama." Clinton has also recently compared Obama to President Bush and asserted that Obama had once supported NAFTA. The Obama campaign fired back on Tuesday with a memo outlining his opposition to the free-trade deal. "Barack Obama doesn't think NAFTA has been good for America -- and he never has," the memo stated.
The Obama campaign also sharpened its arguments about his foreign policy experience, perceived to be a vulnerability given his short tenure in national politics. The memo argued that Obama's three years on the Senate Foreign Relations and Veterans Affairs committees gave him "more foreign policy experience than Bill Clinton or Ronald Reagan had when they were elected President." And the Obama campaign underscored Obama's time spent living in Indonesia as a child -- a chapter of his life that has fueled relentless, yet groundless, Internet-based speculation that Obama, who is a Christian, may secretly be a Muslim.
Clinton allies sought to move past that controversy and keep the focus on her economic message in a conference call yesterday. "I think that Senator Clinton's focus on the economy, which has been at the top of her agenda, long before the statistics caught up with what I think our public knew was going on in their own lives, is quite substantial," said New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine (D). In the continuing battle for downscale votes, Clinton is also objecting to an Obama claim that her health insurance proposal would require even those who cannot afford coverage to buy it. "I will remember Lorain and I will be the president you deserve," Clinton said at a town hall meeting in the Ohio town of Lorain before the debate. Clinton is scheduled to fly later this week to Texas, the other big state with a contest next week, and one where 228 Democratic delegates will be chosen. Her daughter Chelsea will spend her 28th birthday campaigning for her mother in Ohio; her husband has been campaigning in both Ohio and Texas as well as in Rhode Island.
With anxiety building that the Democratic race could drag on for weeks more if next Tuesday's contests are inconclusive, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said he believed it would end in a matter of weeks, brushing off speculation that he would be forced to help broker a deal between the two candidates if there is a standoff. "I've always believed that the voters would eventually make their choice. And I think they're going to do that over the next few weeks," Dean said in an interview on MSNBC. "We still have a little less than 1,000 delegates to go in this convention. I think, before we get the candidates together and try to get them to agree on something, I think -- well, let's let the voters speak. And the voters are going to do that."
Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said it has so far been the "best" presidential race he has ever been a part of -- but declined to state what he would do with his own superdelegate vote. "We have had such a great primary process in the presidential election process this year," Reid said. "I think the number is about 29 or 31 debates. Every issue's been talked about publicly, before millions of people. And what does it boil down to? We have two outstanding candidates, Clinton and Obama."
Reid continued: "And when this is decided -- I don't know when it will be decided -- but the other will step behind the other one and support them 100 percent." Asked whether he would vote with his state, Nevada, which went to Clinton, or for Obama, Reid said to laughter: "I can't hear a word you're saying, okay?"
The first bill would restrict the financing of military operations to fighting terrorism, protecting American troops and training Iraqi forces. The second would give the Bush administration 60 days to report to Congress on its global strategy for defeating Al Qaeda and would limit the length of troop deployments.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/27/washington/27congress.html
I'm elated that Barack Obama had my back. That's what pals are for!
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/02/louis-farrakhan.html
Obama's Farrakhan answer gives Clinton an opening
When you've debated as often as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have, it's hard to find fresh material to spar over. But -- who knew? -- Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan provided such fodder Tuesday night. And the result may have been some crucial points scored by Clinton in their face-off in Ohio.
At the least, Obama appeared to dance around how far he should distance himself from the unsolicited backing he received over the weekend from Farrakhan until Clinton cornered him. At that point, he both denounced AND rejected that support.
Obama had been asked a straightforward question by moderator Tim Russert: Did he accept Farrakhan's support.
The following exchange occurred:
Obama: "You know, I have been very clear in my denunciation of Minister Farrakhan's anti-Semitic comments. I think they are unacceptable and reprehensible. I did not solicit this support. He expressed pride in an African American who seems to be bringing the country together. I obviously can't censor him, but it is not support that I sought. And we're not doing anything, I assure you, formally or formally with Minister Farrakhan.
Russert: "Do you reject his support?"
Obama: "Well, Tim, I can't say to somebody that he can't say that he thinks I'm a good guy."
True enough, but probably ...
not the answer most Jewish Americans wanted to hear. As a result, Obama risked creating the perception for some that he might be somewhat reluctant to completely throw overboard a controversial leader who is not without some stroke within the black community (witness the 1995 Million Man March).
Clinton clearly saw it that way, and sought to put Obama on the spot. She interjected that, during her initial Senate run in 2000, she was endorsed by a splinter party in New York that "was under the control of people who were anti-Semitic, anti-Israel. And I made it very clear that I did not want their support. I rejected it. ... And there's a difference between denouncing and rejecting."
Obama responded: "I have to say I don't see a difference between denouncing and rejecting."
He needs to check a dictionary on that.
Then he decided to yield the point: "But if the word 'reject' Sen. Clinton feels is stronger than the word 'denounce,' then I'm happy to concede the point, and I would reject and denounce."
He could have saved himself some potential grief if he had been less circular arriving at that point.
-- Don Frederick
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article851255.ece
'Bin London' in bombing boast
By SIMON HUGHES
Chief Investigative Reporter
Published: Today
A TERROR chief who boasted he was Osama bin LONDON plotted to top the horror of the 7/7 suicide bombings – telling his evil al-Qaeda gang: “Fifty-two dead? That’s not even breakfast for me.”
Bloodthirsty Mohammed Hamid, 50 – arrested after MI5 bugged his council house – organised camping trips and paintballing outings to train his recruits for murder.
The maniac, who helped brainwash the failed 21/7 suicide bombers, also taught kiddies a vile version of the Banana Boat song – which went: “Come mister Taliban, come implement Sharia. Come bomb England, before the daylight come.”
The full chilling extent of his fanaticism was exposed for the first time yesterday as the trial of five of his gang ended.
They were jailed under new terror laws. A judge had banned the press from reporting that bearded dad-of-six Hamid had been found guilty of organising terrorist training and soliciting murder.
Hamid – an ex-robber and crack addict who lived on benefits after converting to Islam – teamed up with the deputy of hook-handed hate preacher Abu Hamza to poison young Muslims against Britain.
Svengali
Shaven-headed Atilla Ahmet, 43, – described as one of Hamza’s “praetorian guard” at London’s Finsbury Park mosque – admitted three counts of soliciting murder at the start of the trial.
Evil ... Ahmet, right, with Hamza
Evil ... Ahmet, right,
with Hamza
He and Tanzanian-born Hamid will be sentenced next month – and face life in jail.
A jury heard that Hamid was previously arrested with the leader of the 21/7 suicide bombers – Muktar Ibrahim – in a bust-up at a radical bookstall he ran in London’s Oxford Street.
Hamid gave his name as Osama bin London and his address as Tora Bora in Afghanistan.
He warned: “I’ve got a bomb and I’ll blow you all up.”
Pal Ibrahim is serving life for the failed bid to blow up London’s transport system in 2005.
But his mentor dreamed of even bigger atrocities. Targets included Parliament, London Bridge and Prince Charles.
Hamid, of Clapton, East London, could not be directly linked to the 21/7 plot but five of the bombers saw him as a svengali.
During the trial at London’s Woolwich Crown Court it emerged Hamid boasted to a documentary crew he knew who the bombers were.
Shamefully, the BBC refused to inform cops – and even paid for one of the paintball trips.
Tory MP Patrick Mercer said last night: “It is outrageous.” Hamid and his gang were arrested at a Chinese restaurant after a hero undercover cop infiltrated their cell. MI5 had watched Hamid’s training camps in the Lake District and Kent.
The five jailed for attending them yesterday were given sentences ranging from three years and eight months to four years 11 months.
They could go free almost immediately because of time served awaiting trial.
The five were: trainee electrician Kader Ahmed, 20; Jamaican bus driver Kibley da Costa, 25; West Indian hospital worker Mohammed Roger Al Figari, 42; Yassin Mutegombwa, 23, and Mohammed Kyriacou, 19.
Al Figari had previously served eight years over a cocaine smuggling racket.
s.hughes@the-sun.co.uk
It's not fair. I need to talk to somebody before I go ballistic and do something stupid again like shaving my head.
Does anyone know where Rabbi Shmuley Boteach is at the moment?
--------------------------------
Federal Court Denies Britney
By Natalie Finn
Tue, 26 Feb 2008
Britney Spears remains Superior.
A federal judge sent the troubled pop star's conservatorship case back to probate court Tuesday, rejecting a claim by Britney's questionably hired attorney that the local system's decision to temporarily place dad Jamie Spears in charge of her affairs had violated her civil rights.
And, like Jamie and coconservator Andrew Wallet, U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez didn't feel that New York-based attorney Jon Eardley had the right to be filing motions on Spears' behalf.
"Mr. Eardley fails to explain why he can bring this claim for her in the first instance. He cannot," Gutierrez wrote in a three-page ruling. "Mr. Eardley had no authority to remove the case from state court. He is neither a party nor a defendant. While he claims to be Ms. Spears's attorney, the probate court...found that she was incapable of retaining her own counsel."
Gutierrez also denied a motion filed by Jamie Spears' camp Monday demanding $43,000 in attorneys' fees from Eardley to compensate for the extra court time.
L.A. Superior Court Commissioner Reva Goetz said last week that Britney's case was "in a holding pattern" until the federal judge issued a decision. She also refused to review any documents filed in U.S. District Court, saying she wanted to "keep the line of demarcation clear so no one thinks I'm overstepping my bounds."
Eardley argued in court documents filed Friday that Britney retained him on Feb. 12, before her phone was taken away and her line disconnected.
But Goetz determined nearly two weeks beforehand that Britney wasn't capable of hiring her own counsel. The "Toxic" songstress had tried to retain Century City legal eagle Adam Streisand to fight the conservatorship while she was still under observation at UCLA Medical Center, but the lawyer said upon her release that he was unable to take the case.
Yes. Please everybody - do go to that web address and download Rabbi Meir Kahane's views. Excellent!
samsonblinded.org/blog/
===============================
Alex said...
Your readers may be interested to listen to Meir Kahane's views firsthand. They can download his videos here: samsonblinded.org/blog/and-if-youre-looking-for-a-messiah.htm The downloads are full DVD and sound quality is way better than on google video or youtube.
February 08, 2008
Israel’s schizophrenic justice
Nazareth court denied the petition by captured Hezbollah’s fighters to be treating as POWs rather than criminals. The court called Hezbollah “Iranian assassins.”
If it looks like a duck and flies like a duck, then before the law it is a duck: but Israel refuses recognizing Hezbollah as a legitimate military group.
If Hezbollah is a bunch of Lebanese criminals, Israel had no right to bomb the country of Lebanon over their mischief. If they’re Iranian proxy, as the Israeli court declared, then Israel have to retaliate against Iran.
I am a survivor of sexual abuse. The Rabbonim determined based on their own internal investigation, that somehow I was lying and making stuff up out of the blue.
How can I accuse such a holy mechanech of being a child molester? It's pure Loshan Hrah and Moytzie Shem Rah, Rechilus, Chilul Hashem, you name it they said it.
When victims and their advocates attempted to intervene - they were given the cold shoulder by the enablers who belittled or rejected their claims without even an investigation. They said things such as sex abuse doesn't happen in the frum community. They warned people not be a moser. You don't know for sure that it happened because you didn't actually witness the molestation. And therefore it is assur to accept this loshan hara.
I was told that it says it somewhere in gemara (makos) that such adus is pasul and that it may not be believed.
With such backwards logic it is only no wonder why the Rabbonim care to proetct, cover-up, and sweep under the rug for their child molester buddies.
In my case the accused Rebbe was subsequently "cleared" of any wrongdoing and allowed to continue working with children, while my family and I got the shift and runaround from the Rabbonim who were very busy sweeping all this under the rug. We received threats to remain quiet. You'll burn in gehonim forever and ever if you tell.
The New York Times
February 28, 2008
Bloomberg Says He Won’t Run but Will Be Active
By DIANE CARDWELL
Bringing an end to a long flirtation with a bid for the White House, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has officially closed the door on a presidential candidacy this year.
In an Op-Ed article published in Thursday’s New York Times, Mr. Bloomberg wrote that he still believed that a nonpartisan approach was needed to solve the country’s problems and that an independent candidate could win. But he will not run, he said.
“I listened carefully to those who encouraged me to run, but I am not — and will not be — a candidate for president,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “I have watched this campaign unfold, and I am hopeful that the current campaigns can rise to the challenge by offering truly independent leadership. The most productive role that I can serve is to push them forward, by using the means at my disposal to promote a real and honest debate.”
In a switch, the mayor abandoned a promise to remain neutral and said he might work to help elect the right candidate.
“And while I have always said I am not running for president, the race is too important to sit on the sidelines, and so I have changed my mind in one area. If a candidate takes an independent, nonpartisan approach — and embraces practical solutions that challenge party orthodoxy — I’ll join others in helping that candidate win the White House.”
Mr. Bloomberg’s explanation for his decision came after months of careful denials that he was a candidate despite the elaborate behind-the-scenes effort to build the infrastructure of a campaign. Aides, under the guidance of Mr. Bloomberg’s political deputy, Kevin Sheekey, researched getting on the ballot in all 50 states, tested the mayor’s appeal across the country and made alliances from coast to coast. And he seemed to confirm that he would indeed run when he left the Republican Party in June 2007, paving the way for an independent campaign.
During the past two years, Mr. Bloomberg has delighted in the political parlor game of whether he would run, talking up the notion at dinner parties and telling reporters it was flattering and had helped him to draw attention to issues important to the city. The added prominence also kept his lame-duck status at bay, increasing his leverage over elected officials who might have otherwise been unwilling to bow to his wishes since term limits will force him from office in 2009.
Now, Mr. Bloomberg has less than two years left in office to pursue an ambitious agenda that includes overhauling the public education system, reshaping vast swaths of the city, sharply reducing stubbornly entrenched poverty and spurring environmentally responsible growth.
But the political classes began to tire of the mixed signals, and candidates like John McCain, a Republican, and Barack Obama, a Democrat, who could appeal to the centrist, independent-minded voters a Bloomberg candidacy would need, gained momentum.
Though Mr. Bloomberg is poised to become one of the country’s best-financed philanthropists, it is difficult to imagine him being satisfied with a life away from the power of government, associates say. But that life will not involve the presidency, Mr. Bloomberg has now made plain, a decision he hinted at earlier in the day, when he told reporters that he would not be petitioning to get on the ballot in Texas.
In his Op-Ed article, Mr. Bloomberg emphasized that he planned to remain actively involved in the race. “In the weeks and months ahead, I will continue to work to steer the national conversation away from partisanship and toward unity; away from ideology and toward common sense; away from sound bites and toward substance.”
But he also continued the sharp tone he has taken against the candidates, saying that they “must know better” than to offer superficial answers to dire and complex problems.
In some ways, the Op-Ed article seems to mount an argument for a Bloomberg candidacy, even as he backs out of the possibility.
“In New York, working with leaders from both parties and mayors and governors from across the country, we’ve demonstrated that an independent approach really can produce progress on the most critical issues, including the economy, education, the environment, energy, infrastructure and crime,” he wrote at one point. He concluded that it is the candidate who recognizes that who will win in November and “lead our country to a great and boundless future.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120416248000898455.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
McCain, Obama Trade Barbs
By LAURA MECKLER
February 28, 2008; Page A10
TYLER, Texas -- Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama are increasingly attacking each other over a range of issues in what could be the opening rounds of the general-election campaign.
[John McCain]
A cross-country dispute over Iraq erupted yesterday, and no matter who Mr. McCain faces, differences over the war are certain to be a defining question for voters this fall. But Messrs. McCain and Obama have also tangled over health care, campaign finance and lobbying. Each man takes pains to speak about the other with respect, but their differences on a scope of issues now burst through regularly as both look toward the fall campaign.
Mr. McCain, who is expected to win the Republican nomination, also takes aim at Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton. But he has aimed his most pointed criticism at Mr. Obama, anticipating a matchup even though the Democratic nomination has yet to be settled.
PRESIDENTIAL PRELUDE?
• Early Action: John McCain and Barack Obama are trading barbs in what could foreshadow the general election.
• Picking Sides: The Democratic nomination isn't decided, but Mr. McCain has aimed his most pointed criticism at Mr. Obama.
• The Issues: The candidates have tangled over health care, Iraq and campaign finance.
Yesterday, the Arizona senator opened a town-hall meeting by criticizing Mr. Obama for comments he made during a Democratic debate the night before. In the debate, Mr. Obama responded to a question about whether he would invade Iraq again if al Qaeda resurged after he withdrew troops. "If al Qaeda is forming a base in Iraq, then we will have to act in a way that secures the American homeland and our interests abroad," Mr. Obama replied.
Mr. McCain fired from Texas: "I have some news: Al Qaeda is in Iraq ... It's called al Qaeda in Iraq. And, my friends, if we left they wouldn't be establishing a base ... they'd be taking a country."
That prompted a reply from Mr. Obama as he campaigned in Ohio. He said he knows al Qaeda is in Iraq and that is why he plans to continue to strike at the terrorist group. He quickly went on offense.
"I have some news for John McCain, and that is that there was no such thing as al Qaeda in Iraq until George Bush and John McCain decided to invade Iraq," the Illinois senator said at a rally at Ohio State University in Columbus. "So John McCain may like to say he wants to follow Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell, but so far all he's done is follow George Bush into a misguided war in Iraq that's cost us thousands of lives and billions of dollars."
The disputes between the two men touch a variety of issues. On campaign finance, Mr. McCain slammed Mr. Obama for hedging on his pledge to accept public financing in the general election. "He committed to public financing. It is not more complicated than that," Mr. McCain said last week. "I'll keep my word. I want him to keep his."
[Barack Obama]
Mr. Obama had pledged to take public financing in the fall if his Republican opponent did the same, but now is wavering, perhaps because he has proven to be a powerful fund-raiser.
On Saturday, Mr. Obama said that some of Mr. McCain's top aides are lobbyists and that "many of them have been running their business on the campaign bus while they've been helping him." Mr. Obama also charged that Mr. McCain's health-care plan reflects the "agenda of the drug and insurance lobbyists."
Mr. McCain is equally dismissive of Mr. Obama's health-care ideas, and said yesterday that both Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton want "government to take over the health-care system in America."
On Feb. 12, when both men swept primaries in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., Mr. McCain accused Mr. Obama of peddling platitudes. A week later, in a clear reference to Mr. Obama, Mr. McCain promised to make sure that "Americans are not deceived by an eloquent but empty call for change." He also asked whether the nation was willing to "risk the confused leadership of an inexperienced candidate."
In one of his own speeches, Mr. Obama reminded listeners of Mr. McCain's age -- 71 years old -- by noting his "half-century" of service before offering a critique of his platform.
Despite the tension, the candidates are maintaining a civil spirit. Mr. Obama regularly calls Mr. McCain an American hero. "I revere and honor the service of John McCain to this country," he said yesterday.
And on Tuesday, Mr. McCain was quick to condemn inflammatory comments from a conservative talk-show host who revved up the crowd before a speech in Cincinnati.
The radio host, Bill Cunningham, referred to Mr. Obama by his full name -- using his middle name, Hussein -- three times. False information has circulated that Mr. Obama is Muslim, and some detractors like to fan those flames by using his full name. Hussein also quickly brings to mind Saddam Hussein, Iraq's onetime brutal dictator.
Mr. McCain immediately apologized. "I have repeatedly stated my respect for Sen. Obama and Sen. Clinton. I will treat them with respect," he said.
Mr. Obama's campaign appreciated the response, said spokesman Bill Burton. "It is a sign that if there is a McCain-Obama general election, it can be intensely competitive but the candidates will attempt to keep it respectful and focused on issues."
--Timothy Farnam and Nick Timiraos contributed to this article.
Write to Laura Meckler at laura.meckler@wsj.com1
URL for this article:
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The Priests like little boys, and I like them too, Our hashkafas may be different, yet in this we are forever bonded by.
--------------------------------
Police charge priest with sex abuse in Montgomery County
Associated Press - February 27, 2008
FONDA, N.Y. (AP) - An upstate New York Roman Catholic priest is facing several counts of felony sex abuse and endangering the welfare of a child.
State police say Father John Broderick engaged in inappropriate sexual contact with at least four children in a Montgomery County family over the course of several months in 2007. The children range in age from 5 to 11. The victims' parent told investigators Broderick befriended his family and was considered their spiritual adviser.
Broderick left the area sometime in May and was associated with the Holy Name of Jesus Academy in Massena. He was arrested Monday without incident.
The 47-year-old is currently assigned to the Syracuse Diocese of the Catholic Church, but his official duties were suspended earlier this year.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2008/02/27/2008-02-27_trial_rocked_by_hint_nixzmary_was_victim.html
Trial rocked by hint Nixzmary was victim of sex abuse
BY SCOTT SHIFREL and TRACY CONNOR
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Wednesday, February 27th 2008, 4:00 AM
Marilyn Church
Suffolk County Chief Forensic Pathologist Charles Wetli (center) testifies at the trial of Cesar Rodriguez (left). At right, prosecutor Ama Dwimoh.
Prosecutors in the Nixzmary Brown trial hinted Tuesday at bombshell evidence that the little girl was molested.
Assistant District Attorney Ama Dwimoh grilled a defense forensic expert about his statement that there were no signs of sexual abuse on the slain 7-year-old's body.
In graphic terms, she asked him whether there would be any signs if Nixzmary had been forced to fondle or perform oral sex on a man.
The question was intriguing since prosecutors long ago dropped a sex abuse charge against the second-grader's stepdad, Cesar Rodriguez.
Dwimoh said prosecutors pulled the charge "because we didn't want to call the children to the stand."
None of the witnesses who have testified in the month-long trial said Nixzmary's horrific life of beatings and whippings also included sexual violation.
The defense still has several witnesses to bring to the stand - including a jailhouse snitch who will be allowed to testify in a closed courtroom for safety reasons.
That informant claims Nixzmary's mom, Nixzaliz Santiago, admitted she delivered the vicious head blow that ultimately killed the girl, the Daily News has learned.
It's unclear if the witness also claims to have information about sexual crimes against Nixzmary.
Prosecutors are trying to prove Nixzmary died of "child abuse syndrome" after a series of beatings at the hands of Rodriguez.
The girl's pediatrician testified yesterday he saw no signs of child abuse in May 2005, nine months before her death.
Dr. Jose Simpao acknowledged Nixzmary was skinny, in the bottom 5% for weight for a child her age.
Her mother attributed that to a "short father," and the girl had gained half a pound when she returned for a followup, he said.
Shown a crime scene picture of Nixzmary - with blackened eyes and jutting shoulder bones - he blanched, bit his lip and grimaced.
"She looks emaciated," he testified.
After court, Simpao said it was "very hard" to look at the photos.
"I'm a human being. I have feelings," he said. "What happened to her - it's hard to imagine."
He said that after Nixzmary was killed, his secretary told him about it and he instantly remembered the "happy" child.
"Of course, we always think, if I knew then what I know now," he said. "But who can tell the future?"
tconnor@nydailynews.com
I'm the anon from above.
I asked some Rabbonim today this question. If one is not supposed to be mekabel and believe allegations of sexual abuse against another yid, then a person who rapes little kids can never be brought to justice, how can that be?
His answer. Jews don't do such things and most of the time it's fabricated.
What about me, I was sexually abused? you're in the minority I was told.
What about yudi kolko I asked? some people with a vendetta are after him, he answers me.
To talk about such abuse you will tzi brenin tzi brenin in gehenim.
I used to believe the Rabbonim. Now I know they are a bunch of lying shysters. I even went to a deli a few years ago and ordered a a ham sandwich. I was always told you can't eat pig and if you do you will drop dead. I won't do it again, but I just wanted to see if it would happen. I am no longer really "frum" beacuse of the false and wicked Rabbonim. Kudos to you and others for being there.
I want to end by saying that while the Rabbonim are telling me and others that speaking out about sexual abuse is loshon hara, why then for a shidduch it's okay to speak loshon harah. Why by kashrut it's okay to speak loshon harah. but by an innocent boy getting groped, fondled, and molested - that you must remain silent about. Such shmucks!
I wanted to make a kiddush hashem by listening to the chamorim. can you honestly blame me for chickening out?
Elazar Lipa Schmelczer is an American Hasidic entertainer, singer, actor, and composer.
Contents
[hide]
* 1 Musical Career and Controversies
* 2 Backing out of event at Madison Square Garden
* 3 Discography
* 4 Videography
* 5 External links
[edit] Musical Career and Controversies
Schmeltzer's albums have gained tremendous popularity within the American Hasidic community due in part to his masterful Yiddish lyrics, original compositions, and, most of all, his innovations in fusing traditional Hasidic music with contemporary music styles.
Schmeltzer's albums have been controversial from the very beginning. Conservative elements within the Hasidic community are unhappy with the spread of Jewish music that is so heavily influenced by contemporary pop music. They further claim that Schmeltzer's identity as a bona-fide Hasid makes it more appealing to a wider Hasidic audience and therefore more likely to introduce contemporary music to their community, which tends to be insular and more reserved. The effect that Schmeltzer's music can have on members, especially younger ones, of the community is deemed dangerous by many Hasidic leaders. A number of communities have banned Schmeltzer's albums.
Proponents argue that Schmeltzer is a maverick in the world of Hasidic music. He pushes the envelope and is innovative in ways that no other Hasidic performer has been. But this is precisely to what the opposing view is objecting.
Schmeltzer is himself a Hasid of Rabbi David Twersky, the Skverer Rebbe and he resides in Airmont, New York with his family. Under the guidance of his Rebbe, he is said to have declined to perform at events with mixed seating for men and women, despite offers of lucrative compensation. Some Hasidic members of the Skvere Community conjecture that Schmeltzer does not follow the directives of the Grand Rabbi, who rejects Schmeltzer's style and performances, while others deny that there has even been any backlash against Lipa from within their community.
[edit] Backing out of event at Madison Square Garden
On Febuary 26 2008 Lipa backed out of a concert in which he was supposed to perform at Madison Square Garden on March 9th after senior Haredi rabbis banned the event referring to the performers personally as "singers of the fringe of the community."
[edit] Discography
* Nor B'simcha
* Shema
* Lemaranan (Skverer Niggunim)
* The New Project X
* LIPA Sings HallEL
* Lipa L'toivu
* Lipa Baderech
[edit] Videography
* Gelt
* Six Flags Spoof
* Abi M'leibt (Parody of The Tokens' hit, The Lion Sleeps Tonight)
* Diet
[edit] External links
* Abi Meleibt! (video)
* Lipa sings with IDF soldiers (video)
* Letter from Kiryas Yoel banning Lipa Schmeltzer's music
* Lipa sings Hallel
* Jewish Music Review Anyting and everything about Jewish Music
* Lipa's statement that he's following the rabbis and backing out of March 9 2008 concert
The Jerusalem Post Internet Edition
Rabbis ban NY's 'Big Event' as 'immoral'
, THE JERUSALEM POST Feb. 29, 2008
It was going to be the biggest night of Lipa Shmeltzer's musical career.
The venue was reserved months in advance, thousands of tickets were sold, and hundreds of thousands of dollars had been spent organizing what some say would have been the largest haredi music performance yet.
The "Big Event," scheduled to take place on March 9, was to feature the popular haredi performer at Madison Square Garden singing hits from albums such as Gam Zu Letovah (This, too, is for the best) or the more recent Lipa Baderech (Lipa on the way).
Shmeltzer's albums have gained tremendous popularity within the American hassidic community due in part to his innovations in fusing traditional hassidic music with contemporary music styles. But for that very reason, his music has also been criticized and rejected by more conservative elements in the community. Some say he relies too much on the outside world for inspiration, others suggest his music pokes fun at haredi life. Above all, haredim are fundamentally suspicious of entertainment for its own sake, because to be a true haredi means that every moment must be spent in devotion to God.
To ensure that the Big Event would be as "kosher" as possible, rabbis were consulted and preparations were made. Attendees were guaranteed exclusively separate seating for men and women and an intermission was nixed to avoid unwanted mingling between the sexes.
But despite these precautions, last week, just two weeks before the event, two community leaders, Asher Friedman and Avraham Shor, circulated a petition to rabbis of various communities prohibiting the concert for reasons such as "lightheartedness" and "immorality." In the end, 33 rabbis signed a public announcement, published February 20 in the religious daily Hamodia, prohibiting the concert.
The Web blogs and radio talk shows were hotbeds of discussion, as people weighed in on whether Shmeltzer and producer Sheya Mendlowitz should cancel the show. The community was split. Some urged Shmeltzer to continue despite the ban, others said he shouldn't but questioned the timing of the rabbis' announcement and the way the prohibition was handled.
Vis Iz Neias? (What's New?), a popular religious blog that sends out news updates several times a day, held a readers' poll this week on whether Shmeltzer should pull out.
"In today's GOYISHE world it's better to have a concert like the BIG EVENT rather then a real GOYISHE concert RM"L. Don't you think so?," one person wrote on Vos Iz Neias.
Another wrote: "If people would taste even just once true spiritual pleasure they would not even entertain the thought of going to such a concert. In today's world every one is pursuing PLEASURE, but the true rich pleasures of life are in a daf gemara [page of Talmud]."
Late Saturday night, Shmeltzer signed a pledge that he would not perform, and soon thereafter the concert was officially canceled. But the decision was not easy. Three thousand tickets had been sold and the show was expected to sell out at the over 5,000 seat auditorium.
"I was supposed to make more money from this than from any show I ever made in my life," Shmeltzer told Hamodia. But "When 33 rabbanim from different kehillos [communities] sign something, it means that Hashem is telling me, 'Lipa, stop this concert; I don't want this concert."
On a voicemail message on his cellphone, Shmeltzer stresses that "everything is bashert [meant to be]."
All the blogs praised Shmeltzer's decision, and some went so far as to call him a hero.
But the brouhaha continues. Many are wondering why the prohibition came at such short notice, and who is to be held responsible for the hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses.
Some suggest that the rabbis were dragged into signing the ban by Friedman and Shor, who petitioned them to sign the document without ever contacting the singer or the producers of the show to express their concerns.
"In the end it narrowed down to two people who went and obtained signatures in a very slimy and shady way, two very dangerous people," said Mendlowitz, the producer of the show, who has been involved in the haredi music scene for almost 30 years.
"If he [Friedman] had a problem with it, he knew about it more than two months ago. He should have called us to discuss it like a mensch, not caused so much chaos and loss of funds."
Mendlowitz says he is owed roughly $700,000. Initially, Friedman offered to pay part of that sum, but under the condition that Mendlowitz sign an agreement to stop producing concerts.
"Who's he to tell me not to do concerts? This is absolutely ridiculous," said Mendlowitz. "They want to shut down the Jewish concert business, because they don't feel it's the proper place for their followers."
Though listening to live concerts with instrumentation for pleasure's sake is technically prohibited in the last section of Hilchot Tisha Be'av, it has never been strictly abided by and live performances happen on a weekly basis.
Some say it is Shmeltzer's popularity and the success of the Big Event that eventually sparked the harsh response. Popular singers are relatively new to the haredi world, and Shmeltzer has become a star in ways never before seen. The kind of popularity he has earned has typically been reserved for rabbis and some think that's where it should remain.
Shmeltzer is also regarded with skepticism for the fans he attracts. Though he appeals to a diverse audience, many are men and women who grew up haredi but have chosen to stray slightly from the hard-line approach. They may wear their beards a little shorter or keep their side curls hidden.
Also at issue is the music itself, which sometimes borrows from non-Jewish sources. But following the ban, Shmeltzer agreed to stop singing songs that borrow from non-Jewish sources. "In the end I think this kol korei [public proclamation] gave me an opportunity to turn over a new leaf," Shmeltzer told Hamodia.
It is his pious attitude and the fact that Shmeltzer is haredi that makes him more of threat than others who have come before. Critics fear he is managing to legitimize music and entertainment many consider off limits.
"I see what I do - performing and helping Yidden be besimcha [Jews be happy] - as a shelichus [mission] and I use my talents from Hashem to bring joy to people's lives," Shmeltzer said in a recent interview with Hamodia. "Obviously many in the frum community don't need me to make them besimcha, but many do. That's whom I speak and sing for. I don't intend for my music to reach the ears of those who feel that this kind of entertainment is against what they believe in, nor would I have wanted people who don't attend concerts to go to the concert I was supposed to sing at."
Some have suggested that the cancellation of the Big Event will impact the future of the entire haredi music scene, but Mendlowitz is confident concerts will continue as they have up till now.
"There are many rabbis, and I respect all of them, but I have enough to rely on for what I'm doing," he said.
This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1204213985359&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
http://www.5tjt.com/news/PrintArticle.asp?Id=2147
It was a long presentation from a young man at a Sunday-morning program in the community. In trying to tell us a little bit about himself, he said that he liked to describe himself as an FFBWP. That is, “frum from birth, with a pause.” He said that he came from a solid religiously observant Jewish home down South, but that between the ages of 16 and 21, his interest in Jewish observance cooled and he took a break. That is, he pressed his internal “pause” button; he didn’t necessarily regress, but neither did he move forward.
An acquaintance in another community mentioned to me last week that he is concerned about many of his child’s teenage friends. They haven’t fallen out—they’re good kids; they go to shul; they’re nice to their parents; many do well in yeshiva. But, he says, while they are not completely turned off, they are emotionally on hold, going through the motions, just doing what they feel needs to be done and that’s it.
We have no category for these young people. They fall beneath the “at risk” radar screen, as you don’t hear about them or see them on the streets all day and all night, nor do you hear about them disappearing with their friends with no one knowing where they went or where they are until they resurface a few days later. They are not poster boys or girls for organizations that do exemplary work, very often saving the lives of these kids.
Social scientists will tell you that these are the ingredients of a successful mass movement. In any such movement, you have your leadership that sets an inspiring example, then you have your rank-and-file, middle-of-the-road membership that is the majority. And then there are the extremists pulling in the other direction. So, the argument may go, it is that middle, non-committal, even wishy-washy middle ground that makes up the core of any group. So what’s so terrible with that middle group that may be on cruise control or in neutral? Isn’t that to be expected?
The problem is that we are too small a community to be nurturing this seemingly growing type of “on pause” middle group. Why aren’t they being inspired by the depth and richness of what it means to be a Jew these days? We are the owners of a wonderful and stunning heritage that is both unique and exclusive. It’s painful enough to deal with the reality that the overwhelming majority of our people cannot distance themselves far enough away from their faith. Why are those numbers of young people who have the benefit of coming from outstanding and committed families shutting down and remaining satisfied with a neutral form of Jewish practice?
Is this “paused” segment of our young population a precursor to the swelling of the ranks of what is now called “at risk” youth? Rabbi A.Y. Weinberg, the founder and director of Project Extreme, doesn’t think so. “Kids at risk are taking it out on G-d, but I don’t believe that it’s a G-d issue,” he said in a phone conversation from Minneapolis, Minn., where he is in the midst of opening a new yeshiva for girls. “They are reacting very often to family or school situations that have very little to do with how frum they are or are not,” Rabbi Weinberg said.
For others in the “industry,” where to assign responsibility for the ever-burgeoning problem seems to waver from one place to the next. The debate over where liability lies for the growth of this type of problem will always be tossed between the home and the schools and back and forth again and again. Of course, there have always been problems like this in yeshivas and in homes, but it was never this big—because the population in our communities was never this large. Most likely, the problem has always been proportionate to the population within our ranks.
Is the problem being solved now that so many organizations are involved in reaching out to youngsters and extending a helping hand where the schools or the families come up short? An individual deeply involved in dealing with at-risk youth told us on Tuesday that he feels that the problem is unfortunately growing and getting worse. And it’s not just that we live in more dire circumstances than the last generation or two. It’s the ever-evolving modern world, he says—the distractions, the need for instant gratification and satisfaction, along with the emphasis on the need for greater and more material possessions, that has so many kids dizzy to the point of falling over.
Many of us who have lived through similar types of situations in years gone by, and who perhaps now have the benefit of a little experience and maturity, know that there is an answer and a lifeline. It involves a real and solid Torah message that speaks to the hearts and minds of today’s youth. A great deal of unhappiness in all people—and especially kids coming of age—stems from the fact of our mortality and the finite nature of our existence in the world. Torah is the key, though, to eternity. Its message, presented efficiently and correctly, has the ability to assuage fears, comfort the uncertain, and allow one to bask in the light of an Al-mighty and eternal G-d Who features a timeless message. Torah can speak to the heart in a way that can make everything okay. And that’s all anyone wants—for things to just be okay.
This is a broad and philosophical approach and, of course, there are frequently real-life problems that need to be dealt with in a competent and professional fashion. Very often those problems, too, can be lessened if there is a proper hashkafic environment.
As long as it’s the topic of the day in many circles, let me comment on the recent cancellation of the Big Event concert that had been scheduled to take place in the theater of Madison Square Garden on March 9. Due to rabbinic pressure, that program has been cancelled.
This has generated a lot of discussion and debate. There’s also a great deal of speculation surrounding what the catalyst of the ban on this particular program was in contrast to other concert programs, which will hopefully go forward.
The featured performer was scheduled to be Lipa Schmeltzer, a talented, creative, and energetic—as well as controversial—figure in today’s rather small Jewish music industry. Schmeltzer has been known to understand how to work an audience and how to push the envelope, so to speak, to the point where it’s possible to see the emergence of Jewish music dominated by holy lyrics placed in the context of contemporary rap and rock music, which, it can be argued, has influenced and changed more than one generation.
My feeling is that the rabbis got together and drew a line here at this show and this performer not just because of the music or the frivolity that was going to surround the venue. The feeling was that Mr. Schmeltzer—and he himself apparently consented to the sentiment—was exuding a message that so long as you had the look and the dress on the outside, inside it was all right to party hearty.
I have no way of knowing whether Mr. Schmeltzer ever felt that way when performing or recording his songs. However, it seems that some of our leading rabbinical figures became convinced that this was the message being received.
And whether that’s the case or not, it is just as important to deal with the issue, as this is the impression that is being created. Today’s youth cannot seem to weather an intellectually dishonest message. The insides have to match the outside. We can’t afford to have that human pause button pressed, because while on pause there are just too many other unhealthy things going on.
Comments for Larry Gordon are welcome at editor@5tjt.com.
By:_ Larry Gordon - 28/02/2008
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1204127193430&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
The Jerusalem Post Internet Edition
Will anyone set the facts straight?
AVI SHAFRAN , THE JERUSALEM POST Feb. 27, 2008
Vindication is nice, but there's sometimes bitter mixed in with the sweet. Back in October of last year, a headline in the New York Jewish Week read: "No Religious Haven From Abuse." The subheader amplified: "New study finds Orthodox women are sexually victimized as much as other American women."
As I wrote shortly thereafter, first in a letter to the Jewish Week and then in a longer essay, the study found nothing of the sort.
Because of the sample it recruited, the study, in the American Journal of Psychiatry, could not and did not make any claim at all about the relative prevalence of abuse in the Orthodox and general American communities.
The study's authors themselves in fact stated as much, noting that "those who chose to participate may not be representative of the [Orthodox] population," and that the unfeasibility of obtaining a representative sample constituted a "major limitation of this study."
What is more, over half the women comprising the recruited study sample were receiving mental health treatment at the time. Victims of abuse, needless to say, are more likely than others to seek counseling, and so the sample would be expected to yield a larger number of victims than one representative of the larger Orthodox community.
And so, by comparing the 25%-27% figure for American women claiming (in randomized surveys) to have suffered abuse at some point in their lives with the 26% figure yielded by the recent (self-selected and non-representative) study of Orthodox women, and concluding that "Orthodox Jewish women suffer as much [abuse] as other American women," the Jewish Week writer revealed only her own innumeracy.
If anything, the similar percentages between an Orthodox group disproportionately likely to have suffered abuse and a non-Jewish random sample arguably indicate a lower rate of abuse in the former.
After daring to call attention to all that, I was roundly and strongly censured. One subsequent writer to the Jewish Week, utterly uncomprehending of the point about the number of study subjects receiving mental health treatment, claimed it indicated the precise opposite of what it did, and accused me of denying that abuse exists in the Orthodox community, although I explicitly noted in both my letter and essay that abuse exists in every community, including the Orthodox.
ANOTHER LETTER-WRITER, this one a Long Island psychologist, condescendingly sniffed that without "a knowledge of...non-parametric statistics‰" I simply was not qualified to address the study's findings. He too, incredibly, managed to misconstrue the entire point about the sample's disproportionate share of mental health patients.
Then blogs, of course, weighed in, demonstrating with their rantings just how widespread is the misconstrual of the word "critical" in the phrase "critical thinking" as "negative" rather than "analytical."
Finally, though, several weeks later, some sanity came to reign. In a long and comprehensive article, the Director of Psychotherapy Training in the Psychiatry Residency Training Program at the University of Cincinnati, Dr. Nachum Klafter, asked by a blog to evaluate the study and the Jewish Week article, presented his conclusion that I had "correctly read the AJP paper" and that the Jewish Week writer had clearly misreported its findings.
That was followed by a joint monograph by a professor of psychology, a professor of education and philosophy, a doctoral student in clinical psychology and a well-known and regarded author of essays and books on cultural issues. It stated that "to attempt to generalize from [the study highlighted in the Jewish Week article] to the Orthodox mainstream - or to draw grand comparisons between subgroups within this skewed sample - seems to be a gross misrepresentation of the data obtained."
Both of the recent papers, moreover, noted that the study's data in fact yields the remarkable (yet somehow unremarked upon by the Jewish Week) fact that the survey respondents who were raised Orthodox were 50% less likely to have experienced sexual abuse than those from non-Orthodox homes. Considering that the survey asked if abuse occurred at any point in respondents‚ lives, it is plausible if not likely that much of the abuse reported among those raised non-Orthodox occurred before they joined observant communities.
NONE OF which, of course, is to deny either that abuse exists in the Orthodox community (as it does in all communities) or that all communities, including the Orthodox, have a responsibility to put effective measures into place to prevent it. But the fact of its existence in the Orthodox world is no justification for drawing unwarranted conclusions about its extent there.
I am gratified, of course, that the record regarding the study and article has been corrected. But something still grates, and, I think, for good reason.
Because all that many, if not most, of the Jewish Week's readers will likely ever remember about the entire business will be a mendacious headline. Despite all the setting straight of facts, what will remain in minds - not to mention in the eternal echo-chamber of cyberspace - will be only those deceptive, in fact slanderous, words.
The writer is director of public affairs for Agudath Israel of America.
http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-3511151,00.html
'Religious Zionism sucked into abyss of haredi lifestyle'
Rabbi Yigal Ariel strongly condemns Religious Zionism, its leadership for turning excessively haredi, says religious Zionists ‘have become delusional and irrational in their thinking’
Kobi Nahshoni
In a recently published book, Rabbi Yigal Ariel, chief rabbi of Moshav Nov in the Golan Heights, condemned harshly the Religious Zionist movement for its recent tendency to become excessively haredi in character.
“Sadly, we (religious Zionists) are gleefully making rapid strides towards the haredi world,” said the rabbi. “Today we hear Religious Zionists speaking out against science, against the academic world, and even against basic rule of law.”
Rabbi Ariel’s book, "Leshem Shamayim" (In Heaven’s Name), published by the Beit El Library, attempts to “examine the growing conflict between Religious Zionism and the haredi world, and to determine whether the growing rift between these movements can be healed.”
Ariel’s book, in essence, is a strong indictment of a recent trend in the Religious-Zionist world driving its members to become more and more haredi. In an interview to a local Golan Heights newspaper, Shishi Ba Golan, Rabbi Ariel, brother of one of the founders of Religious Zionism Yaakov Ariel, accuses religious Zionists of losing their way, detaching themselves from the Israeli public, and being swept away into a dark abyss of their own making.
“We have become delusional, irrational people,” said rabbi Ariel, referring especially to a trend towards extremism now evident on Religious Zionist education, as well as a growing focus on the struggle for preserving and defending West Bank territories.
“I first decided to write this book following the Gaza disengagement,” said Rabbi Ariel in his recent interview. “I watched Religious Zionism head towards a major crisis long before the Gaza pullout, but I didn’t think it would come some soon or s o quickly. I blame Religious Zionist educators for this trend and for literally hacking off their very own limb.”
The rabbi also said that he feels that Religious Zionism as a movement is now regressing rather than growing or moving forward. “It is turning haredi to such an extent that I felt that if my book was not published soon there would be nobody in the religious Zionist world left to address.”
The rabbi indicated that, in his opinion, “the haredi world is completely detached from reality, and Religious Zionism is gleefully headed in the same direction. Religious Zionists today speak out against science, the academic world and even against the basic rule of law. More and more things are becoming taboo.”
Goal is to ‘manufacture good kids'
Ariel furthermore stated that, where as religious Zionism formerly aspired towards “a “broad-based world view” and raising youngsters that are creative free thinkers, today Zionist educators would rather educate a generation of good, obedient children much as one sees in the haredi world.
“Everyone says the same exact thing and spews the very same clichés,” he said. “We (religious Zionists) now want obedient followers that do as they are told and do not ask difficult questions.”
As an example, Rabbi Ariel notes questions sent by text messages to the various synagogue newsletters. “The questions are inane, and so are the responses,” he said. “Everything comes down to a very practical level of what ought to be done and what ought to be avoided.
In a recent Q&A to Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, for instance, he had ruled that the book "Mekimi" by Noa Yaron-Dayan (which relays the author’s experiences in becoming part of the Breslover Hasidic movement) was not an appropriate read for Orthodox individuals. This greatly disturbed Rabbi Ariel, who stated ‘what bothers me most is that people will listen to him (Rabbi Aviner) and follow his ruling.'
“I strongly condemn this mindset, which is so reminiscent of the haredi world. As Religious Zionists we have reached a point where people don’t think for themselves but wait for others to tell them what they ought to and ought not to do. This reaches such a ridiculous level of absurdity that people can no longer judge fort themselves what is appropriate for them to read.”
Rabbi Ariel also spoke out against the growing detachment of Religious Zionism from the general Israeli public. Various synagogue newsletter, he noted, have created an entirely new lexicon which the entire Orthodox world now embraces as its own.
“While everyone else spoke of ‘disengagement’ we (Religious Zionists) spoke of ‘expulsion’. Instead of the ‘Amona evacuation’ we referred to the ‘Amona pogrom’….we are settling ourselves apart from the general public through this terminology, and are viewing the world through our own narrow and limited point of view. We are completely cutting ourselves off from the Israeli public.”
As a further example, Rabbi Ariel noted that he was recently asked to endorse the efforts of Right wing groups, who refused to recognize the authority of various law enforcement agencies, and to deem such actions as ‘heroic’ and as ‘sanctifying God’s name’.
“The girls involved in such civil disobedience said that they did not recognize the authority of the State of Israel no its courts, only that of God almighty,” said Rabbi Ariel. “Is this what Religious Zionism has come to?”
The rabbi further said that what disturbed him far more than these actual actions is the fact that rabbis refused to speak out against such phenomenon. “Somebody brainwashed and warped these young girl as is the case with many Orthodox youths, and the rabbis all remain silent.”
“These are young girls that don’t know which way is up just yet,” said Ariel. “They find themselves running across a hilltop in the west Bank one day and are convinced that they are saving the land of Israel.
"What about the Israeli people, its inhabitants, however? What about the IDF that protects them on that hilltop. These girls do not recognize either, and deem them ‘a rule of evil’. If this is the way Orthodox people speak, then we have become detached from reality. We have become delusional individuals.”
That being said, the rabbi also noted that he does not want to make any sweeping generalizations. “Religious Zionism definitely has accomplished some tremendous things in terms of Torah study as well as arts and culture, but our original vision was far grander than it is today.
"Our original focus was also on the State of Israel, but now we have forgotten the people of the land of Israel and have become completely isolated in our vision and thinking.
“What interests us as religious Zionists is the political struggle for our homeland first and foremost,” said Ariel, “most notably the struggle for the West Bank which Religious Zionists have turned into the be all and end all. Israel has been struggling with this issue for 40 years, and the fierce debate surrounding it has paralyzed us all. It is a shame that Religious Zionism has now come to be identified with this political struggle and nothing else.”
I am not embarrassed because I'm a putz with a triple figure salary. Screw all you suckers out there. The money is good and i'll continue to masquerade as some child sexual abuse expert.
I am a puppet of the brainwashing bulldogs in the black hats and as long as my wallet keeps getting fatter and larger, I will continue being a complete jackass.
-------------------------
“I strongly condemn this mindset, which is so reminiscent of the haredi world. As Religious Zionists we have reached a point where people don’t think for themselves but wait for others to tell them what they ought to and ought not to do. This reaches such a ridiculous level of absurdity that people can no longer judge fort themselves what is appropriate for them to read.”
As a further example, Rabbi Ariel noted that he was recently asked to endorse the efforts of Right wing groups, who refused to recognize the authority of various law enforcement agencies, and to deem such actions as ‘heroic’ and as ‘sanctifying God’s name’.
“The girls involved in such civil disobedience said that they did not recognize the authority of the State of Israel no its courts, only that of God almighty,” said Rabbi Ariel. “Is this what Religious Zionism has come to?”
The rabbi further said that what disturbed him far more than these actual actions is the fact that rabbis refused to speak out against such phenomenon. “Somebody brainwashed and warped these young girl as is the case with many Orthodox youths, and the rabbis all remain silent.”
I find this to be very offensive. What does Rabbi Ariel have against Rabbi Aviner? What does he have against the Breslover Hasidic movment? What is his problem? I personally am advocating that the Agudah set up a kabalah program for our orthodox youth. In addition we have the "steam the hat" club. Let me see if Rabbi Ariel finds some fault in that too!
---
In a recent Q&A to Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, for instance, he had ruled that the book "Mekimi" by Noa Yaron-Dayan (which relays the author’s experiences in becoming part of the Breslover Hasidic movement) was not an appropriate read for Orthodox individuals. This greatly disturbed Rabbi Ariel, who stated ‘what bothers me most is that people will listen to him (Rabbi Aviner) and follow his ruling.'
I have a message for you Mr. Bush. We should sit down and talk at least. Let us workout a business proposition that suits us both. Your oil connections in the Arab countries makes it ideal. I can make it worth your countries economic interests with some of the finest Cuban cigars my brother Fidel has made just for you.
-------------------------------
Bush Says No Talks With Raul Castro
By Scott Stearns
White House
28 February 2008
Stearns report - Download (MP3) audio clip
Stearns report - Listen (MP3) audio clip
President Bush says he has no plan to meet with Cuba's new president, Raul Castro, because he represents nothing more than an extension of the policies of his brother, Fidel Castro. Mr. Bush says it would send the wrong signal to people around the world if the president of the United States meets with tyrants. VOA White House Correspondent Scott Stearns has the story..
Friday, February 29, 2008
ERIKA SCHULTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES
From left, Odette Polintan, wife of former Councilman David Della; the victim's mother, Sue Nakata; and sister Bernadette Nakata weep while friends and family describe Tatsuo Nakata during Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz's sentencing in Seattle Municipal Court.
Tatsuo Nakata was crossing Southwest Admiral Way in a crosswalk when he was hit.
Rabbi who hit, killed pedestrian gets two years deferred
By Nancy Bartley
Seattle Times staff reporter
Last Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz's anguished prayers went on for eight hours.
It illustrated the despair the West Seattle rabbi felt over the death of Tatsuo Nakata — the man he struck and killed the previous November, one of Schwartz's faithful said Thursday in Seattle Municipal Court, where his rabbinical colleagues, congregants and family packed the court to beg Municipal Court Judge George Holifield for mercy.
In the Nakata family's view, leniency was what Schwartz got.
"It's not enough," sobbed Bernadette Nakata, the victim's sister, after the sentencing.
The morning of Nov. 14, 2006, Schwartz struck Tatsuo Nakata, who was crossing Southwest Admiral Way in a crosswalk at 47th Avenue Southwest. Nakata, 29, who was an aide to then-City Councilman David Della, later died at Harborview Medical Center.
There were no skid marks to show Schwartz tried to brake, Senior Assistant City Attorney Kevin Kilpatrick said. "He wasn't paying attention."
Schwartz, the director of the West Seattle Torah Learning Center, was on his cellphone at the time, according to court testimony.
It was the second time Schwartz had struck someone with his car. The first time was in May 2005, when he struck Ilsa Govan, who was riding her bike along Interlaken Drive East. Schwartz's car crossed the lane and collided with her, she testified at the sentencing.
"I just wish there was something that could have been done after he hit me," Govan said through her tears.
Schwartz was cited for driving on the wrong side of the road, but the charge was later removed from his record. "I feel lucky to be here. I wish Mr. Schwartz would make the decision never to drive again."
The deferred sentence means that if Schwartz, 37, has no infractions of the law after two years the charge will be dropped from his record.
"I'm outraged," City Attorney Tom Carr said. "To be given a deferred sentence after a trial ... ."
In January, a jury found Schwartz guilty of assault-injury by vehicle and the prosecutor wanted him to spend time in jail. Schwartz could have been jailed up to a year.
But Holifield said no jail time would bring Nakata back.
Holifield on Thursday suspended Schwartz's license for two years and told him he would have to reapply through the Department of License, pay any funeral or medical costs from the accident, and do 500 hours of community service outside his Jewish community.
Some 100 letters supporting Schwartz were sent to the judge, and supporters spoke about his care and support. He told the court that as a result of publicity about the case, he's also received anti-Semitic mail.
One of Schwartz's congregants, Carmen Crincoli, said that on Yom Kippur last September it was agonizing to watch Schwartz's prayers go on and on, evidence, he believed, of the rabbi's inner turmoil. He begged the judge not to incarcerate Schwartz.
The judge said that protecting the public from Schwartz's driving was his main concern.
"Regardless or not if he's a good person," Holifield said, "he's a lousy driver."
The King County Prosecutor's Office declined to prosecute Schwartz because he wasn't intoxicated or driving recklessly. Instead, Schwartz was charged with assault-injury by vehicle, a gross misdemeanor, filed by the Seattle city attorney in Seattle Municipal Court.
When speaking to the court, Schwartz at times was tearful and said that a DVD of Nakata's life — sent to him by Nakata's family — rests beside his bed.
"It haunts my night," he said. "Those thoughts were with me on Yom Kippur."
Nancy Bartley: 206-464-8522 or nbartley@seattletimes.com
We condemn the Reform movement.
-
Reform Jewish Movement Condemns Renewed Terrorism Against Israel
Saperstein: Such acts of terrorism, designed to murder innocent civilians and undermine peace efforts, are inexcusable and doomed to fail.
Contact:Alexis Rice or Ariella Thal 202-387-2800
WASHINGTON, May 19, 2003 - Rabbi David Saperstein, Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, expressed the outrage and grief of the Reform Jewish Movement today over the five suicide bombings that have taken place in Israel throughout the last three days. The recent wave of attacks, which began on Saturday evening, has left twelve innocent people dead and at least 70 wounded. Rabbi Saperstein responded to the incidents with the following statement:
Once again, after many weeks of relative calm, our hearts are saddened by renewed and senseless violence in Israel. The Reform Jewish Movement grieves for the victims of these attacks and their families. Such acts of terrorism, designed to murder innocent civilians and undermine peace efforts, are inexcusable and doomed to fail.
###
The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism is the Washington office of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC) , whose over 900 congregations across North America encompass 1.5 million Reform Jews , and the Central Conference of American Rabbis(CCAR) whose membership includes over 1800 Reform rabbis .
The American male is broken and the only way to fix him is to redefine what makes him a success, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach says, adding that the American male is made to feel like a failure and always in competition with those around him.
"You're trained to look behind you to see who's gaining on you, and sideways to see who's caught up to you," Boteach said in a phone interview. "The dehumanization of the American male is destroying him. He's made to feel like he's a not a human being; he's a human doing, and he's only valued for what he produces."
Boteach first wrote on the topic in a column three years ago, and after syndication carried it to about 70 newspapers he received more than 5,000 e-mails. As he filmed his TLC show, "Shalom in the Home," he says the subject of the dysfunctional male kept reappearing as he traveled from home to home across America. Finally, he decided to put together all his thoughts on the subject in a new book.
But while men are the focus of Boteach's "The Broken American Male and How to Fix Him" (St. Martin's Press), women don't escape unscathed.
http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=19011
See, we're not the only ones sexually and physically abusing kids.
Don't forget to wish us Mazel Tov on our 100th anniversary dinner which will take place Sunday, March 30 at Ateres Chaya Hall.
Shlomo Mandel will not answer any child abuse questions, so don't even bother asking.
-------------------------------
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/29/njersey329.xml
Further abuse claims in Jersey care home
By Aislinn Simpson and Gordon Rayner in St Martins, Jersey
29/02/2008
Two more people have come forward to claim they were subjected to serious sexual abuse at the Jersey child home which is now the subject of an intense police investigation.
# Police find trap door in Jersey care home
# Jersey care home victim gets sinister warning
One hundred and sixty people have now alleged they were subjected to rape and torture at Haut de la Garenne in the east of the tiny island.
Jersey care home victims come forward
Two more people have claimed they were subjected to sexual abuse at the Jersey home
"Two people have reported extremely serious allegations of crimes which happened here, serious sexual crimes," Deputy Police Chief Lenny Harper said.
One alleged victim who has spoken to police told of how he received a sinister warning from a former childcare worker urging him not to "dredge up" the past.
The 38-year-old, called Steve, spent his entire childhood in Haut de la Garenne, was contacted through a friend by a former childcare worker.
"This person had suggested I have a good life, a very good job, a family, I've left the island, it's all in the past and that dredging it up won't help matters – it will cause more problems," he said.
"I said I'd already spoken to the police about it and she said 'well I know that' but if they speak to you again, certainly about the remains it would be in my best interests to say: 'I've told you all I know and keep a low profile'."
Mr Harper condemned the care worker's alleged comments, saying: "If that is the truth and it's taken place then we are in realms of a very serious criminal offence."
Steve, who now works in IT, said he was abused not only by staff but by other children.
advertisement
"When I was eight I was cornered one day. I thought I was in with the gang but I was grabbed and stripped of my clothes and told to have sex with this girl who was about 15 years old," he said.
"Of course I couldn't because I was too young but I had to pretend. If I didn't they'd whip me with stinging nettles and chuck stones at me."
He said that on another occasion, staff took the children into a field in their pyjamas where they were chased around and whipped with a bamboo cane.
"At the end of it all my pyjamas were ripped, I had cut back legs and could barely breathe and I remember one of the staff said 'this isn't right'," he said.
He claimed he told a teacher and a probation officer about the abuse he suffered both nothing was done.
Another former resident told that he two of his friends had hanged themselves after being raped at the home, and another died while in the sick bay.
Carl Denning, 49, from Caernarvon, North Wales, said the sexual abuse he suffered was widespread.
"The suicides were never spoken of. No one saw the police turn up to investigate them," he said. "If you asked, the staff would just say, 'It's been dealt with'. It was as if they had just been swept under the carpet."
Another alleged victim claimed was ignored when he reported he was abused to Jersey police 10 years ago.
The man, who cannot be identified and now lives on the mainland, claimed he was molested for three years from aged six by an officer in the Jersey Sea Cadets – where an unrelated case of abuse sparked the Haut de la Garenne inquiry.
He said he kept quiet as a child because he feared no one would believe him, but decided to fly home to speak to police after hearing another victim of his abuser had come forward.
When he contacted them afterwards to find out what progress they had made, he said he was told the statements had been lost and police would not be pursuing the matter.
"Clearly something is not right," he said. "I believe people were working to make sure it all stayed under wraps."
The Baltimore Rabbonim are a disgrace! The program they ran called "How to Keep Our Children Safe", should have been renamed appropriately for the scam it is. Call it the "Defense of Rabbonim" program. What a nightmare!
CALL THESE OFFAL RABBIS AND TELL THEM TO RETIRE!
They have already caused irreparable damage to many human souls. It's a disgrace they still retain their positions of authority. Enough!
---------------------------------
http://jewishsurvivors.blogspot.com/2008/01/watch-panel-discussion-on-child-sexual.html
From: The Awareness Center's Daily Newsletter
See the flyer below about a program being put together by Ohel for the Baltimore Jewish community. The program is called: "How to Keep Our Children Safe". As you may be aware, Ohel is a community mental health center based in the ultra-orthodox community in Brooklyn, New York. Over the years The Awareness Center has heard complaint after complaint from survivors who utilized their services. Unfortunately, Ohel has a bad habit of making the orthodox community believe they are experts in the field of child sexual abuse. What ends up happening is that hey are doing a disservice to those who have been sexually victimized. When a survivor doesn't get help from those who really understand the dynamics and work with them from a multidiscipline approach the survivors end up getting re-victimized, making healing almost impossible. If the rabbonim really wanted to make changes they should be educating the community with professionals who really know what they are doing. The Ohel - Baltimore program includes:
* Rabbi David Gottlieb - promised a survivor to do something when the survivors alleged child molester moved to the community. A year has passed and nothing was done. The alleged sex offender is roaming freely attending classes in which minors are present.
* David Mandel - has a degree in Business, has no clinical experience yet continues to speak out as an expert in the child abuse field. Mandel and Rabbi Dovid Cohen have been named by many as helping to cover up sex crimes in Boro Park and other Jewish communities around the globe.
* Rabbi Yaakov Hopfer - who has been advocating for the rights of alleged sex offenders and has a long history of shaming and blaming survivors of sexual abuse.
* David Pelcovitz - a psychologist who jumped on the sex abuse bandwagon when he thought it was a trendy thing to do, yet really does not have the background to be working with survivors.
CALL TO ACTION: Demand the Rabbonim of Baltimore Stop Playing Games! Demanding that when programs are presented about sexual abuse they bring in professionals who actually have the education and experience to be presenting such a program. Contact:
Rabbi Dovid Gottlieb
Shomrei Emunah
Shul Office: 410-358-8604 (Option #1)
Home Office: 410-653-2423
Rabbi Yaakov Hopfer
(Note: when you call Rabbi Hopfer be aware that his secretary is the daughter of alleged sex offender, Rabbi Moshe Eisemann. Demand she not screen the message and actually gives it to him).
Shearith Yisrael (Glen Ave. Shul)
Phone: 410-466-3060
Fax: 410-367-9183
Rabbi Moshe Hauer
Bnai Jacob Shaarei Zion Congregation
410-764-6810
Fax: 410-358-2631
Torah Temima condemns this. How can someone go to such a tumedic contest? Cablevision? It's a big aveiruh!
I will have to keep signing those baloney kol kores and hazaras just to piss you off. You think I'm a putz, and look I have my signature alongside so many gedolim. Can you beat that?
-------------------------------
Brooklyn Public HS, Yeshiva To Face Off on Cablevision Show
by Brooklyn Eagle (edit@brooklyneagle.net), published online 02-14-2008
BROOKLYN — All-star student scholars from Yeshiva of Flatbush Joel Braverman High School will challenge Secondary School for Law in the first round of the 11th season of Cablevision’s “The Challenge,” an academic quiz show designed to test students’ knowledge in a Jeopardy-style format. The first round match-up between Yeshiva of Flatbush and Secondary School for Law aired exclusively on News 12 Brooklyn at 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 2 and Sunday, Feb. 3, with encores scheduled to air on Saturday, Feb. 16 and Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008, at 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
http://www.brooklyneagle.com/categories/category.php?category_id=27&id=18523
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/02/world/middleeast/02mideast.html?em&ex=1204606800&en=79678adc68bf4fa6&ei=5087%0A
The New York Times
March 2, 2008
Israel Takes Gaza Fight to Next Level in a Day of Strikes
By STEVEN ERLANGER and TAGHREED EL-KHODARY
GAZA — Israeli aircraft and troops attacked Palestinian positions in northern Gaza on Saturday, killing at least 54 people and wounding more than 100 in the deadliest day of fighting in more than a year. Two Israeli soldiers were killed and seven wounded, the military said.
The Israeli attacks, mostly from the air on a clear, bright day, were aimed at stopping rocket fire from Gaza into Israel, the Israelis said, especially after Ashkelon, a large city 10 miles from Gaza, came under fire from more advanced, Katyusha-style rockets of Iranian design.
Half the dead were reported to be Hamas gunmen or those belonging to affiliated groups like Islamic Jihad. But at least 19 Palestinian civilians also died in the heavily populated area, including four children, according to Dr. Moawiya Hassanain of the Gazan Health Ministry.
More than 80 Palestinians have died since fighting surged on Wednesday; an Israeli died in Sderot from a rocket, and six Israelis were wounded Saturday from rocket strikes in Ashkelon.
The fighting brought harsh criticism from the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, who reportedly threatened to call off negotiations with Israel over a peace treaty. “We tell the world: watch and judge what’s happening, and judge who is committing international terrorism,” Mr. Abbas said in Ramallah, on the West Bank.
Mr. Abbas, who has referred to the rocket firing as useless provocation, said last week that armed conflict remained an option if negotiations failed.
An Israeli spokesman, David Baker, said that Israel was conducting “defensive measures” to protect its civilians from rocket fire against cities, which Mr. Baker called terrorism. “We have over 200,000 Israelis in range of Palestinian rockets. We cannot allow this to go on.”
The Israeli deputy defense minister, Matan Vilnai, said the military was engaged in “an enlarged operation and not a major ground operation” of the type Israeli politicians have been pressing for. Mr. Vilnai told Israel Radio that “we are using mostly air units” and that Israeli forces “are permanently engaged in Gaza, and what we are doing now is within the scope of such activities.”
After something of a lull on Friday, about two dozen rockets landed in Israel on Saturday, including seven Katyusha-style rockets in or near Ashkelon, lightly wounding a woman and two children just after midnight. Saturday afternoon, another rocket hit the Ashkelon marina shopping center, wounding three others, the Israeli military said.
Israeli troops began their operation just after midnight, concentrating on a hilly area near crowded Jabaliya, within two miles of the Gazan border, where many of the rockets have been launched from among the civilian population. Late Saturday, the Israeli military confirmed that two soldiers had been killed and that seven others, including an officer, had been wounded.
In Gaza on Friday, Hussein Dardouna, 50, was burying his son, Omar, 14, killed while playing with his friends by an Israeli strike aimed at a rocket-launching team. “I couldn’t identify the body of my son,” he said. “It was very hard until I found the head of my son. I’m against these rockets, but I am afraid. What can I do? If I protest they will hit me, they will kill me.”
A woman at the funeral said: “Everyone is afraid now. Where is Abu Mazen, where is Haniya?” she asked, referring to Mr. Abbas and the Hamas leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniya. “Come and protect us.”
Another woman, fully veiled, and a Hamas supporter, yelled at a reporter for asking questions. Neither woman would agree to be identified.
The Israeli operation killed at least 10 fighters from Hamas, which has run Gaza since it drove out Fatah forces in fierce internal fighting last June. The dead included the son of a Hamas legislator, Muhammad Shihab.
Most residents hid in their homes. The Palestinian dead on Saturday included at least four children, two of whom, brother and sister, 11 and 12, respectively, died in their beds from shrapnel, medics said.
Hamas said that one girl, Malak Karfaneh, 6, died Friday night from an Israeli strike on Beit Hanun in northern Gaza, but residents said that a Palestinian rocket had fallen short and landed near the house. , killing her and wounding three siblings.
Israeli officials say that up to half of Palestinian rockets — mostly crude, inaccurate Qassams — fall inside Gaza. But when Hamas broke open the border with Egypt, Israeli officials say, the militants were able to bring in more of the manufactured Katyusha-style rockets as well as antitank missiles and concrete, for building fortifications.
The United Nations agency that deals with Palestinian refugees closed down the 37 schools it runs in northern Gaza.
“We are living in the middle of the battle zone,” Rami Muhammad Ali, 21, told Reuters by phone from Jabaliya. “We wanted to flee the house, but we’ve been trapped since last night.”
He described the scene, saying, “Rockets and missiles are whistling by all the time, and the building has been shaken by mines the Palestinians are setting off against the Israeli soldiers.”
A Hamas military spokesman who calls himself Abu Obeida said, “The Zionist forces have failed in Gaza before.” Hamas, under some political pressure from the effective isolation of Gaza and deteriorating conditions there, seems to be trying to lure Israel into a major ground operation.
The Israelis have been cautious, with little desire to reoccupy Gaza and take full responsibility for its 1.5 million inhabitants, nearly 70 percent of them refugees or their descendants. The Israeli security cabinet will meet during the week to discuss Gaza, with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arriving as well.
She has defended Israel’s right to defend itself but has urged restraint. A major Israeli operation would most likely put a crimp in American-sponsored peace talks between Mr. Abbas and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel.
A White House spokesman, Gordon D. Johndroe, said late Saturday: “We call for an end to violence and all acts of terrorism directed against innocent civilians. There is a clear distinction between terrorist rocket attacks that target civilians and action in self-defense.”
Steven Erlanger reported from Jerusalem, and Taghreed El-Khodary from Gaza.
I'm not done yet. Don't stick a fork in me. Those Hasidim from New Square still love me, and they have friends in Texas!
--------------
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h6c32E3UHtRJ5mB7wfmGx_nLm4WAD8V53EVO1
"This is one of the most momentous decisions any Texan could make," Clinton told key activists as she launched a last-weekend blitz. "You are, in effect, hiring the next president of the United States."
I'm glad the police is not investigating me at the moment.
newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--pastor-sexabuse0229feb29,0,5880016.story
Former upstate NY clergyman sentenced to 3 years for sex abuse February 29, 2008
UTICA, N.Y.
A former pastor of Resurrection Assembly of God Church in Clinton has been sentenced to three years in prison for sexually abusing a 7-year-old girl.
William Procanick has been free on bail since he was convicted of first-degree sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child in January.
During his trial, the 54-year-old said he was only giving a back rub to the child, who was spending the night at his home. He denied receiving any sexual gratification from the massage, and said he didn't do anything he wouldn't have done with his own children.
http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2008/03/its-official-th.html
It's Official – The 'Gedolim' Want YOU to Pay for Their Mistake; The New Music Ban, part 12
It's official. The so-called gedolim will issue a ruling tonight that will urge ticket holders for the now-canceled Madison Square Garden "Big Event" Lipa Schmeltzer concert to donate their "refund" to the concert promoter and the charity it would have benefited, Simchat Tzion.
(You can hear this appeal being made at the beginning of Zev Brenner's radio show last night.)
So, what's wrong with this?
Plenty.
First of all, the gedolim expect you, the little guy, to pay for their arrogance and incompetence. They want you to get them off the hook.
These doddering, arrogant pretenders caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages. They damaged Sheya Mendlowitz, Lipa Schmeltzer, the orchestra, and many others. And they hurt a good cause, the Simchat Tzion charity.
Once these arrogant fools realized they could be successfully sued in secular court for millions of dollars, they promised to make up the losses they caused – and you, my friends, are expected to pony up the cash for them.
Simchat Tzion should be helped. If you want to give them tzedaka, send it directly to Israel. But do not let it get into hands controlled by the 'gedolim.' If you do, the money meant to help Israeli orphans may instead go to paying off Medlowitz's debt or Lipa's loss.
But do not donate your potential refund. That money will in all likelihood be divided between Mendlowitz, Lipa, the other musicians and Simchat Tzion, with the very real potential of a skim off the top to pay for the 'advice' of the 'gedolim.'
It's time these rabbis took responsibility for their actions. Please do not do anything that will let them off the hook.
Rabbi Yaakov Horowitz Wimps Out – The New Music Ban, part 11
Rabbi Yaakov Horowitz, 'rebbe' to many J-bloggers, was interviewed on the Zev Brenner Show last night. Rabbi Horowitz refused to comment on the Lipa Schmeltzer-concerts ban, even though that was the show's topic.
(I have posted the entire show as an mp3 file after the jump in the extended post below.)
Rabbi Horowitz pleaded with listeners to not criticize 'gedolim.' He claimed he's never heard Lipa sing (like he couldn't take 10 minutes before the show and listen), so he couldn't comment on any potential reasons for the ban.
Please.
Worse than that, Rabbi Horowitz has made a clear, open and deliberate choice. He has decided to…
…sacrifice truth and fair play in order to keep "at-risk" kids inside haredism.
In effect what Rabbi Horowitz said and wrote is telling kids the truth about gedolim will cause many of these kids to leave the fold. So avoid that problem – lie.
Another rabbi, forced to chose between truth and convenience, between truth and unfairness, between truth and deceit has again chosen to take the easy, disingenuous way out.
Rabbi Horowitz knows full well that many of the so-called gedloim who signed that ban are nothing more than thugs, our own Taliban-wannabes in shtreimlach and kapotes. He knows some of them were duped, some of them are doddering, and others have little to no concern for those outside their narrow circle.
And he knows the big 'secret' most of us know –the vast majority of those rabbis were never gedolim in the first place.
But he also knows if the hierarchical structure of the haredi community collapses, so does haredism. So, he makes his deal with the devil, so to speak.
I've had some personal contact with Rabbi Horowitz over the years. I like him. Until I saw his most recent column and heard him on Zev Brenner, I considered him to be a figure I could look up to.
In fact, in the dark of some nights, on the very rare occasions when I've thought about what I would do if I decided to return to Orthodox observance, I thought perhaps I'd rely on Rabbi Horowitz to guide me.
No more.
But it's not just no more for Rabbi Horowitz; it's no more for return, as well.
Why?
As I heard Rabbi Horowitz carefully avoiding saying anything about the 'gedolim' that could even remotely be construed as critical, as I heard him shill for a concept, daas torah, that has killed more Jews than many epidemics and that today destroys the lives of many children whose rabbis – shielded by daas torah – rape and abuse them, it finally clicked.
There may be good haredim, but there is no good haredism.
There is no haredism to return to.
Horowitz claimed the 'gedolim' years ago gave him a daas torah (i.e., told him it was a good idea) to push for more recreation for haredi youth. A woman called in an pointedly told Rabbi Horowitz that no yeshiva in Borough Park allows its students to go to concerts, take swimming lessons, or play sports. Most of the so-called gedolim live in? You got it, Borough Park.
Rabbi Horowitz was briefly taken aback. Then he did what any good haredi has been trained to do since birth. He blamed the victims and their parents.
If the school doesn't allow recreation, Rabbi Horowitz said, send your kid elsewhere. It's the parents' fault.
But it is not the parents' fault. When leaders with 'daas torah' say no sports, no recreation, and these leaders are the rabbis of these parents, then by Rabbi Horowitz's own theology, shilled for over and over again last night, the parents must listen to those 'gedolim.'
Every supportive point Rabbi Horowitz made was made in response to pointed questions from Zev Brenner or from listeners. On his own, he was nothing but a mouthpiece for the 'gedolim.'
If BeyondBT, that besotted blog of group think that uses Rabbi Horowitz as an adviser, had any guts, they'd dump HaRav HaGoan Horowitz. But they won't.
But many others in the J-blog world have looked up to Rabbi Horowitz. We linked to his columns. We heaped praise. We rooted for him.
Will this continue?
I hope not.
For you J-Bloggers who missed last night's broadcast, here it is as an mp3 file. Listen to it all. Note how Rabbi Horowitz constantly avoids answering tough questions. Note how he shills for the so-called gedolim. Note how he blames the victims, not the rabbis who (non-sexually, this time, at least) abused them. Realize that every good statement the man makes is drawn out of him by a persistent, tough question.
Then treat Rabbi Horowitz as he should be treated – a nicer, kinder version of Rabbi Avi Shafran. A company man, not an honest man – certainly not a rebbe.
http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2008/02/congressional-l.html
http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2008/03/the-rabbi-behin.html
Rabbi Avrohom Schorr, son of Rabbi Gedaliah Schorr and the rabbi behind the Lipa Schmeltzer-Jewish music concerts ban.
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People think he's so holy. He's another idiot!
I know someone who went to daven shabbos mincha there becuase he missed the minyan next door (by ohr yitzchok). This guy wasn't wearing a suit, just nice dress pants and a colored shirt. When there was a call for "any kohanim here" he picked up his hand after no one came forward. They Gabbai and Schorr gave a disgusted look at this guy as if he were a terrorist, and then caled on a Levi bimkom Kohen.
Real nice gerer putzes!
'Obama touched by land of Israel'
Longtime Obama supporter Lee Rosenberg says presidential hopeful has always been strong supporter of Israel, recalls senator's meaningful visit to Jewish State
Yitzhak Benhorin
WASHINGTON – Presidential candidate Barack Obama has been working with and backed by prominent pro-Israeli Jews in the United States, including AIPAC treasurer Lee Rosenberg.
Greenberg, who is currently an activist in Obama's campaign, told Ynet in a special interview that the presidential hopeful has always been a strong supporter of Israel. Rosenberg, who spoke to Ynet in his capacity as an Obama activist and stressed that he was expressing his personal views only, said that his personal familiarity with Obama leaves no doubt as to the senator's commitment to the Jewish state.
US Elections
Obama: Not only Likudniks can be pro-Israeli / Yitzhak Benhorin
In meeting with Jewish community leaders at Ohio synagogue, Democratic senator says there are those who believe that being pro-Israeli means adopting Likud's policy. 'That can't be the measure of our friendship with Israel,' he clarifies
Full Story
"He reached out to me to learn more about the issues affecting Israel and Middle East, and the US–Israel relationship," Rosenberg said, referring to his early contacts with Obama. "The reason I know him well is actually on this issue. I spent most of my time with him…specifically talking about the US- Israel relationship and the safety and security of Israel."
'Impacted by importance of security issues'
Rosenberg says that the Security of Israel "is the global and policy issue that I care most about" and rejects claims that questioned Obama's commitment to the Jewish State. "He's always been a strong supporter of the security of Israel," he says.
Rosenberg, who accompanied Obama during his visit to Israel in 2006 that included a tour of northern Israel and a visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, says it was an important "on-the-ground experience" for the senator, who was "impacted by the importance of the security issues."
"He experienced that and you can't do it from Chicago - you have to be there," Rosenberg said.
"He was touched by the Land of Israel itself and by the accomplishments that the country has made," Rosenberg added. "Most importantly, he expressed concerns about how to make sure that the United States stands beside Israel on security matters."
AP: 13,000 Abuse Claims in Juvie Centers
By HOLBROOK MOHR
COLUMBIA, Miss. (AP) — The Columbia Training School — pleasant on the outside, austere on the inside — has been home to 37 of the most troubled young women in Mississippi.
If some of those girls and their advocates are to be believed, it is also a cruel and frightening place.
The school has been sued twice in the past four years. One suit brought by the U.S. Justice Department, which the state settled in 2005, claimed detainees were thrown naked in to cells and forced to eat their own vomit. The second one, brought by eight girls last year, said they were subjected to "horrendous physical and sexual abuse." Several of the detainees said they were shackled for 12 hours a day.
These are harsh and disturbing charges — and, in the end, they were among the reasons why state officials announced in February that they will close Columbia. But they aren't uncommon.
Across the country, in state after state, child advocates have deplored the conditions under which young offenders are housed — conditions that include sexual and physical abuse and even deaths in restraints. The U.S. Justice Department has filed lawsuits against facilities in 11 states for supervision that is either abusive or harmfully lax and shoddy.
Still, a lack of oversight and nationally accepted standards of tracking abuse make it difficult to know exactly how many youngsters have been assaulted or neglected.
The Associated Press contacted each state agency that oversees juvenile correction centers and asked for information on the number of deaths as well as the number of allegations and confirmed cases of physical, sexual and emotional abuse by staff members since Jan. 1, 2004.
According to the survey, more than 13,000 claims of abuse were identified in juvenile correction centers around the country from 2004 through 2007 — a remarkable total, given that the total population of detainees was about 46,000 at the time the states were surveyed in 2007.
Just 1,343 of those claims of abuse identified by the AP were confirmed by various authorities. Of 1,140 claims of sexual abuse, 143 were confirmed by investigators.
Experts say only a fraction of the allegations are ever confirmed. These are some of the most troubled young people in the country and some will make up stories. But in other cases, the youth are pressured not to report abuse; often, no one believes them anyway.
Undoubtedly, juvenile correction facilities and their programs benefit many of the youth who experience them by offering substance abuse programs, educational courses and mental health counseling. And for many troubled youth, the facilities are the last hope to straighten out problems that could eventually lead them to suicide, prison or other institutions.
Still, advocates for the detainees contend that abuse by guards remains a major problem and that authorities aren't doing enough to address the situation.
In 2004, the U.S. Justice Department uncovered 2,821 allegations of sexual abuse by juvenile correction staffers. The government study included 194 private facilities, which likely accounts for the higher numbers than the AP found.
But some experts say the true number of sexual incidents is likely even higher. Some youth view sexual relationships with staff members as consensual, not as adults in positions of authority abusing their power.
Sue Burrell, an attorney for the Youth Law Center in San Francisco, recalls investigating sexual encounters between female staff and male inmates at a juvenile facility in Florida. "One of the boys I interviewed said he didn't think it was fair that his roommate had a relationship with one of the staffers and he didn't."
Other abuse is physical, and often sadistic.
For boys at the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility, authority came in the person of 50-year-old Gilbert Hicks, and he wielded that authority emphatically.
Hicks was convicted of sexual assault in October 2005 after he "grabbed, squeezed and twisted" a boy's testicles, according to a federal lawsuit.
When the boy sought medical attention 10 days later because of pain and swelling, Hicks, who had worked at the facility for 24 years, taunted him by asking: "What, you want me to squeeze your (genitals) again?"
Hicks allegedly abused two other boys the same way.
His sentence? Five years probation and 90 days in jail to be served on weekends.
What sets the case apart from many others is the successful conviction. Often such cases come down to the word of a guard against that of a teenager with a long criminal record, the primary reason that so few charges of abuse are confirmed and prosecuted, child advocates say.
While it is likely that incarcerated youth make false allegations of mistreatment against their guards, there are cases of abuse not being reported because "many children are afraid of what would happen if they snitch on staff," said Mark Soler, executive director of the Center for Children's Law and Policy in Washington D.C.
The worst physical confrontations can end in death. At least five juveniles died after being forcibly placed in restraints in facilities run by state agencies or private facilities with government contracts since Jan. 1, 2004.
The use of restraint techniques and devices and their too-aggressive application have long been controversial and came under intense scrutiny last year after the death of 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson.
A grainy video taken at a Florida boot camp in January 2006 shows several guards striking the teen while restraining him. Six guards and a nurse were acquitted Oct. 12 of manslaughter charges after defense attorneys argued that the guards used acceptable tactics.
In Maryland, 17-year-old Isaiah Simmons lost consciousness and died after he was held to the floor face down at a privately owned facility that was contracted by the state. Prosecutors say the staff waited 41 minutes after the boy was unresponsive to call for help.
Scott Rolle, an attorney for one of the counselors, had said the men were only trying to prevent Simmons from hurting himself or someone else.
A judge dismissed misdemeanor charges against five counselors; the state has appealed.
Other restraint-related deaths were three boys — 17, 15 and 13 — in facilities in Tennessee, New York and Georgia, respectively. At least 24 others in juvenile correction centers died since 2004 from suicide and natural causes or preexisting medical conditions.
Supervision does not have to be abusive to be problematic. The absence of supervision creates its own misery.
Advocates say sex among detainees is also a major problem in some facilities, a claim backed by government findings. A U.S. Department of Justice report described sex at the Plainfield Juvenile Correctional Facility in Indiana as "rampant."
And sometimes suicidal youth or those who want to harm themselves in other ways don't get the personal attention they need.
Mississippi's juvenile correction centers have been under the supervision of a court-appointed monitor since 2005 as part of the settlement to end the lawsuit filed by the federal government.
But a 15-year-old girl on suicide watch at Columbia Training School used a toe nail and the sharpened cap off a tube of toothpaste to carve the words "HATE ME" backward in her forearm. The girl also said she was shackled 12 hours a day, and forced to wear leg restraints to classes, meals and other activities.
Another 15-year-old girl who spent time in Columbia told the AP she was twice groped by a male guard. She said she reported the abuse.
"They told me I was lying," she said with tears streaming down her face. "They told me that I was wrong for reporting it, that I shouldn't have brought it up."
Columbia sits atop a 2,200-acre campus with a manicured lawn that stretches out beneath the shade of oak trees. From a distance, the red-brick buildings and pastoral grounds could pass for those of a boarding school. Indeed, administrators pointed proudly to the fact that 90 percent of the girls got their general education diploma.
"We are giving them skills that they will take well into adulthood," insisted Richard Harris, a deputy administrator with the Mississippi Department of Human Services — a few weeks before the state announced it was closing Columbia "due to issues ranging from adequate staffing to quality of care, and the desire to most efficiently spend taxpayer dollars."
While officials in many states complain that funding can be a major challenge — salaries for guards in Mississippi's juvenile facilities start at $18,000 a year — it will take more than cash to fix the problems.
"What could be done to minimize or reduce these problems?" asked Melissa Sickmund, with the Pittsburgh-based National Center for Juvenile Justice. "Training. Oversight."
Columbia had about 120 staff members and a $5.8 million budget and at times housed only a few dozen girls. At that rate, it costs about $598 a day to house a girl, according to a study by Timothy J. Roche, an expert consultant hired by the state.
There are success stories.
Nancy Molever, an Arizona Juvenile Department of Corrections spokeswoman, said it would have been difficult to improve conditions there — or meet recommendations made by the federal government — without a willingness "to change the culture of the agency" that oversees the juvenile facilities.
Arizona recently emerged from a lawsuit the Justice Department filed after three youngsters committed suicide. Arizona invested $8 million to $10 million in facility improvements and increased the starting annual salary of youth correctional officers to over $30,000, Molever said. The state has also been weeding out employees slow to conform to the new rules, Molever said, but the downside is more employee turnover, which is already a problem nationwide.
Officials in Missouri, which has one of the most highly regarded juvenile correction systems in the country, agree that it takes more than money to run a safe facility.
"It's just a different approach that we take. It's a treatment approach," said Ana Margarita Compain-Romero, a spokeswoman for the Missouri Department of Social Services. "In other states, they take a more punitive approach, more like corrections."
Marion man arrested for Sex Abuse of 8-10 month old girl and videotaping the acts
Caught after family member views one of the tapes and calls police. Police to sort piles of other tapes to see if any other children fall victim
When Lieutenant Bob Hetzke first viewed the tape he said he was “sickened” by what he saw. He immediately told Investigators Rod Gifford, Jim Dallas and Roger LaClair to go to the residence of Richard A. Florack, age 55, of 5059 Steurrys Road in Marion and bring him in for questioning.
What Hetzke and the other Wayne County Sheriff's investigators witnessed was Florack taking the diaper off a 8-10 month old baby girl and engaging in sexual contact with the infant child. She was reportedly a family member. The video tape was shot in Florack's home in early 2002.
Police were made aware of the tapes on Sunday night and Florack was taken into custody on Tuesday and charged with Criminal Sexual Act in the 1st Degree, Sexual Abuse in the 1st Degree and Possessing a Sexual Performance by a Child, all felonies. He was also charged with Endangering the Welfare of a Child and later with Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the 4th Degree. The weapon was found to belong to another resident at the address.
The Sheriff's office was assisted by members of the Wayne County Child Protective Unit. Florack was arraigned before Town of Arcadia Justice Art Williams and remanded to jail on No Bail and is currently under suicide watch.
The Investigators seized video cameras, audio tapes, two computers and over 100 video tapes. Hetzke said he and the investigators have a lot of video tapes to view and that more charges may be pending.
At least one other child, a five year-old non-family member has come forward and is believed to to have been a victim.
Florack, who has no prior arrest record, reportedly worked at Anderson Equipment Company in Henrietta as a mechanic.
The case will be turned over for Wayne County Grand Jury action. Police are asking that if anyone knows of any potential victims to call 911.
Sex abuse statute of limitations under review
Posted: Friday, February 29, 2008 at 9:45 a.m.
JEFFERSON CITY, MO. (AP) -- A St. Louis-based religious order says a former student waited too long to come forward with claims of sexual abuse by his former teacher.
The Marianist Province wants the Missouri Supreme Court to reject Robert Visnaw's lawsuit against William Mueller. Mueller left the order more than two decades ago after multiple complaints by former students.
An attorney for the religious order argued Thursday that Visnaw should have quickly realized that Mueller's behaviors were clearly sexual in nature. Those actions included blindfolding Visnaw and stripping him to his underwear while holding a knife to his throat.
Visnaw says he didn't recall any sexual misconduct until 2005, a year before he filed suit. He attended St. John Vianney High School in Kirkwood in 1984 and 1985.
Now we need other States to do the same.
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Rep. Jim Wayne
Rep. Jim Wayne
Related Links
* House Bill 211
Web produced by: Jessica Noll
FRANKFORT, Ky. – Legislation that would broaden Kentucky's child sex abuse laws while increasing penalties for abusers and those who fail to report abuse passed the House Thursday.
House Bill 211, sponsored by Rep. Jim Wayne, D-Louisville, would include older children under state laws that protect minors from first-degree sexual abuse by raising the age of children covered by the law from 12 to 16, or 16 to 18 if the perpetrator is in a position of trust or authority.
The bill would also add knowingly masturbating in front of a child to the definition of first-degree sexual abuse, increase the statute of limitations for bringing charges against abusers and increase the penalty for failure to report child sexual abuse after the second or third occurrence.
"Kentucky needs laws that recognize the seriousness of offenses committed by sexual predators, especially those in positions of authority," said Wayne.
A provision that would specifically prohibit someone over age 21 or someone in a position of authority or trust from engaging in sex acts while communicating with a minor under age via a computer or other electronic communication device was added to the bill on the House floor.
HB 211 passed by a vote of 96-0 and now goes to the Senate for its consideration.
Wayne, a mental health professional, told the House before the vote that one in three girls and one in five boys are sexually abused at some point although less than 10 percent of those cases are reported.
Kill us? Rabbi Aviner is crazy!
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Rabbi Aviner: Women permitted to kill rapists
In fiery newsletter, rabbi encourages women to resist any form of sexual harassment
Kobi Nahshoni
Fight off your attacker: Women attacked by rapists are permitted to kill them to ward off the attack, Beit El Chief Rabbi Shlomo Aviner ruled in a newsletter published Saturday.
Wiped Out
Ultra-Orthodox press digitally erases women from images / Neta Sela
Haredi print, internet media refuse to publish photos of women, even those in prominent positions; female member of Winograd Commission omitted from photograph on news website
Full story
“In either word or deed, fight him off. Yell out loud so that everyone can hear you. If he touches you, slap him. If he attempts to do worse, and there is no other choice, you can kill him…yes, kill him,” Rabbi Aviner wrote.
The rabbi also noted in his article that his advice falls well within the guidelines of Israeli law, which is also on his side. ”A young man broke into a woman’s apartment and wanted to have his way with her. She killed him and the court ruled that in this instance she had the right to use reasonable force in order to defend herself, and that her actions were justified.”
In an article entitled “Don’t Let Men Harass You” the Rabbi urges women to resist all forms of sexual harassment, either in word or deed, and advises women “to not allow men to treat them like an object for their own use and pleasure.”
“Don’t be afraid to fight back against harassment, even if it is in the workplace and even if it involves a superior,” writes the rabbi. “Women’s organizations will gladly be there for you and help you fight back. You will not be on your own.”
That being said, Rabbi Aviner cautions complainants that the road that lies ahead for them will not be a simple or easy one. “The harasser will not give in easily. He will say that you asked for it, initiated it, enticed and seduced him with provocative clothing, etc. Don’t worry, however, women’s groups will help you through it.”
In the latter part of his article Rabbi Aviner cites statistics that indicate that there are over 50,000 cases of sexual abuse in Israel among women between the ages of 25-40. Moreover, 25% of religious women report that they have been sexually harassed. “Most were harassed by someone they knew, most chose to remain silent…” stated the Rabbi.
What is the rabbi’s solution for this widespread problem? “We should put 50,000 men in jail, so that others see, learn and realize that when a woman says ‘no’ it means just that.”
Asher Friedman, the askan behind the lipa shmeltzer ban is an unbelievable fraud. He steals from yesomim and yesomos. PAY UP!
Here is an awesome blog started on child molester Dr. William Ayres, slated to stand trial in January 2009 for molesting 7 young boys sent to him for therapy. There are dozens of other Ayres victims whose cases are too old for the statute of limitations. Many more have yet to come forward.
This blog is very informative with the latest info on the criminal case against Dr. Ayres:
www.williamayreswatch.blogspot.com
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